By Gary Schwitzer
Another interesting post by Liz Scherer on her "Flashfree: not your mama’s menopause" blog — this time about:
" a review in the Journal of Aging Studies discussing
how the social construct of menopause has shifted to "an increasingly
more medicalized perspective that emphasizes the biological deficits of
the aging female body."
Scherer says the review:
"…points to the ‘Menopause Industry:’ a
"profit-seeking enterprise comprising pharmaceutical companies and
perpetuated by the media intent on "turning 40 million baby boomer women
into patients for life by defining menopause as an estrogen deficiency
disease requiring significant medical intervention." While the
companies create the drugs, the media (whose increased attention to menopause, largely fueled by the wave of 1970s feminism and
in part funded by corporate interests) not only provide women with
access to the information and resources that they seek but also
contribute to perceptions of personal control among women who do not
want to "sit back and let menopause just happen to them." The result is
that the Menopause Industry has not only developed products that these
women crave that allows them to win their battle against old age, but,
continues to highlight the need for them."