Ailments and Situations - Menopause (and Related Issues) - Cultural Menopause

Sociocultural views and perceptions associated with menopause vary widely around the world. As with aging, menopause is generally shunned upon by mainstream Western society and is viewed as a negative life experience. However, menopause is revered by many as it reflects a time to express and explore the personal power and wisdom within and to learn about and discover one's self. This is the period when many women begin to earnestly live their lives based on their innermost values. It is a period where many women seek peace of mind and harmony from within.

Celtic cultures view the young maiden as the flower, the mother as the fruit, and the elder women as the seed -- that which contains the knowledge and potential of all other parts. The postmenopausal women would use her focused truth and wisdom to re-seed the community with her knowledge. Many native cultures believe menopausal women retain their "wise blood", as opposed to shedding it every moon cycle. In these cultures, a women could not be a shaman until she was postmenopausal. They were key to the tribal decision-making process and also guided younger women into the eventual role they would adopt. Mayan Indian women regard menopause as a highly positive event that allows greater social interactions with respected elders and provides relief from child-bearing. A well-known study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found that though Mayan Indian women and identical hormonal levels to that of American women, they experienced no symptoms during menopause and were not at risk from osteoporosis. The influential power of the mind cannot be underestimated.

In the Western world, conventional medicine regards menopause as an estrogen-deficiency disease and not part of a women's natural growth process. This view is largely grounded in Robert A. Wilson's Feminine Forever, published in 1966. Menopause is seen as a point in time where a women's various systems are failing and in decline and must be "treated", primarily with estrogen replacement therapy (ERT). "Atrophy", "wither", "senile", and "shut down" are the most frequent terms used when menopause is discussed in the Western medical community.

As a result, this new found source of energy and expression experienced by women during menopause is directed inward as a defense against Western sociocultural negativity, resulting in a number of symptoms including depression, hot flashes, mood swings, and a general lack of direction and identity. Lack of support from friends and family and a misdirected cultural ideal of "forever young" encourages poor nutritional habits as necessary foods are replaced with "comfort" foods, further contributing to a negative experience.

This cultural alienation denies many women of the positive experience that menopause should be and cross-cultural research has shown that the cultural view of menopause directly relates to the menopausal symptoms experienced.