Welcome to QueerMenopause.com!

 

October 18th is World Menopause Day

Things you may or may not know

  • Menopause is a hormonal transition.

  • Ovary-driven menopause happens to half the population.

  • All bodies experience some kind of hormonal transition in midlife.

I wish this site didn’t need to exist

I created this site after doing some research into LGBTQIA+ experiences of menopause. I hope, as I add resources, it will be useful to those experiencing menopause and those working with them.

Menopause information is improving. And it’s about to be on the school curriculum, which is great news! But we’re not there yet. Not by a long way.

Many people sail through it and wonder what the fuss is about. But millions have suffered because they had no idea what was going on in their own bodies, and didn’t know what to ask because you don’t know what you don’t know.

People are still having to haggle with their doctors over what is going on with them. It’s bad enough if you are a cisgender heterosexual woman. For LGBTQIA+ folks it can be even more challenging.

PEOPLE IN MENOPAUSE

This site talks about about people in menopause because it’s not just women who experience it. Trans men, non-binary people, intersex people also experience it. And it’s not just heterosexuals - lesbians, bisexuals, asexuals also experience it. It can also impact trans women - you don’t need ovaries to have a menopausal experience.

LGBTQIA+ voices are barely represented in menopause literature and information. This means many people stay away from doctors because it’s just too exhausting to explain your gender, sexuality, or body, on top of menopause, and risk being interrogated, disbelieved and gaslighted.

And we ALL need way more education on hormones

All of us. The idea that hormones are gendered causes great confusion.

AGEISM

Menopause is tightly bound up with ageing, and therefore ageism. Even though perimenopause can start in your 30s (and the whole thing can start as young as you like if you have your ovaries removed surgically), we still associate it with oldness and all the negativity and shame that comes with that.

There’s a lot of denial about it. So I’d like to remind you that menopause is coming for you too, some way, somehow - whether for you personally or someone close to you.

 
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