How to Menopause

Tamsen Fadal’s How to Menopause is influenced and inspired by the growing menopause awareness movement, which is interconnected with feminism and women’s rights in general. Feminism means fighting for more inclusive policies, gender diversity acceptance, and women having equal voices on the world stage. For decades, menopause has been under-discussed and scarcely taught in medical school despite it affecting every woman who reaches menopause. Menopause is shrouded in secrecy and stigma that has existed alongside a general tendency to encourage women to be tough and stay quiet. Historically, women who were experiencing a variety of mental or physical illnesses were deemed “hysterical” and put into asylums where they were abused and treated horribly. 

Today, women who report menopausal symptoms are often labeled hypochondriacs, told to deal with it, or told that it’s just normal. While these lines of thought may seem centuries apart, they are not; in both cases, women are being conditioned into thinking they are imagining their problems. The menopause awareness movement seeks to rectify this. In a similar line of thought, women who reach middle-age are often deemed socially irrelevant and undesirable, so necessary affirmations of self-worth come from within and from other middle-aged women. This movement reclaims the menopausal body as a site of autonomy, not shame, challenging medical gatekeeping, ageist tropes, and the erasure of women’s experiences. It also aligns with wider feminist health advocacy, such as demands for reproductive justice, maternal healthcare reform, and the end of gender bias in clinical trials.

Fadal’s book contributes to a cultural shift that challenges these outdated narratives and depicts menopause as a legitimate health, personal, and social issue. In recent years, there has been a rise in media coverage (especially social media), celebrity disclosures, and advocacy around menopause. Public figures have used their platforms to normalize conversations about hot flashes, hormone therapy, brain fog, and sexual health, bringing visibility to a stage of life that affects half the population. There is also continuous major bias against women in medical research, which advocacy can help to change. Women like Fadal want the mystery to be taken out of menopause, so that fear, anxiety, and embarrassment can give way to self-discovery, empowerment, and mutual support. This emphasis on storytelling and solidarity reflects a powerful counter-narrative: Menopause is worthy of knowledge, investment, and celebration. In centering lived experience, Fadal’s work helps dismantle taboos that have long silenced intergenerational conversation and left many women to navigate the transition in isolation.