KEVIN’S CORNER
MENOPAUSE IS NO MUSICAL, KEVIN DISCOVERS
So, here I am, a man writing for a women’s magazine about to discuss menstruation and menopause. Wish me luck! This reminds me of having to make a speech to a theatre full of lively, middleaged women primed up to watch Menopause the Musical.
I was speaking on behalf of the sponsors. I felt like a ram to the slaughter. Actually, the audience must have recognised my awkwardness. There was no hostility. Nonetheless, I said what I had to and got off.
How we’ve opened up regarding the discussion of menstruation and the use of tampons. I have a copy of the Weekly from 1963. There’s a full-page ad on the back cover – a soft-focus image of a beautiful woman in a hot-pink pantsuit. Underneath, the headline simply says “Modess because”. There were some details in the small print, but I suspect at the time I’d have had no idea what the ad was either saying or selling.
But now, issues such as whether tampons should be freely available in schools are discussed by women and men on the news with no embarrassment. Yay!
But what about that other word beginning with “men”, menopause. Apart from the very funny play I’ve mentioned, when do we hear menopause discussed publicly in any detail?
I guess women talk about it among themselves, I don’t know. What I do know is that when my wife encountered menopause, I had little idea what to expect. I’m not sure she did. She seemed to change over that time, but what was due to menopause and what wasn’t?
I just wanted to know how I could help her and understand what she was going through. I read what I could, but there were so many inconsistencies in what I read. And, of course, a frustrated, “Are you going through a bit of a bad patch?” would only make matters worse.
Some sort of education programme explaining menopause, especially to men, is well overdue. I remember, when tensions between my wife and I were at their worst, I emailed that clever and entertaining psychiatrist Nigel Latta, asking if he’d devote one of his TV shows to menopause. I also asked him if he did, to please not mention it was my idea.
Anyway, I didn’t hear back. But we need something. That’s why I’ve risked writing this.