6
Book ClubsChapter 12: Menopause | "Woman: An Intimate Geography" by N. Angier
Hi Everyone! And thanks for your interest in reading "Woman: An Intimate Geography"! Since each topic is has so much information and is perfectly contained in one chapter, I will be making weekly threads per chapter to discuss each aspect of female biology described in this book. Note that there is a 1999 version, as well as a 2014 refresh with updated/additional information. I am using the 2014 version.
These threads will primarily focus on one book, and I ask that the discussion generally limit to the book itself. If after reading, you went off to do additional research, I encourage you to share how that has supplemented your engagement with the book. And of course, if anyone decides to pick up this book at a later date, you're welcome (and encouraged) to continue the conversation!
Ova, Chromosomes, Body, Clitoris, Uterus, Hysterectomies, Breasts, Breast Milk, Ovaries, Hormones, Estrogen & Sex
Chapter 12 asks us if we can live without estrogen, and frames the discussion against the backdrop of the dance between menopause and estrogen replacement therapy.
"What we take seems stronger than what we have. Physiology is invisible and forgettable. Pills are tangible and melodramatic. They make grand promises and they raise grand hopes." - Angier (2014), p 232. (Sounds like another HRT we often talk about, eh?)
A bit of a short chapter, I wonder why Angier didn't go further into the physiology of menopause, but spent a good while describing attitudes towards ERT. Though, now I wonder why doctors are apparently quite insistent on ERT. Perhaps there's not enough researching going on.
I thought it was interesting to read the study that concluded that women who choose ERT tend to have more negative views of menopause, and possible lower self esteem and higher rates of depression and anxiety. I wonder what that says about our culture, given that anglophone societies seem to lead in rates of ERT, while other cultures do not seem to care for it.
I approached this chapter with dread. I thought it was going to be all about how great estrogen is. I assume that because that's what everyone says.
Because Pharma is allowed to influence doctors and research, we can't trust what they say, or what they think they know. It's really scary. Especially when you're not supposed to question it. I like how Angier says, "It's perfectly respectable to dither."
After reading through all the back and forth, this was the conclusion that you reference: "It turns out that one of the biggest reasons that many women reject hormone replacement therapy is that they have positive feelings about menopause." You can be sure millions will be spent to convince women otherwise." What it says about our culture is that it's influenced by corporations.
Women reading this book are likely to come away from it loving their bodies in a way that might protect them from advertising messages.