Femme Forgotten

A Taboo Time of Life and The Right To Choose

A faction of women I believe are typically forgotten about and rarely discussed whenever women are discussed, are again disregarded in current critical political conversation. It seems a subject still taboo, which makes it my new favorite subject. It’s also quite relevant to me now that I am in my 50's.

Peri and post-menopause is something all women will eventually become. I have found that both men and women are often uncomfortable when I raise the subject. My mother certainly never mentioned menopause. Some women tell me they glided through the ten plus years of transition without a single twitch or hair out of place. I have found this shocking. I first noticed symptoms of perimenopause after I turned 42. For those first seven years it was a come-and-go thing. The last 2–3 years have been much more intense. Night sweats plagued me for about a year. I would wake up soaking wet, have to change the sheets and take a shower in the middle of the night. I learned to keep a glass of water next to the bed to stay hydrated. That passed. Memory loss showed up seemingly over night. I used to have the kind of memory that stunned people. I could read a book and then tell you what part was on what page. My memory has not returned to normal, but I fight the blank screen when I cannot recall a word like hydraulic, or I’m not sure what I entered a room for. I have learned to breathe through my panic when I fear being fired from my job because I spaced out on something. Mood swings, especially irritability, have been extreme at…