#scholarlyarticles

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Unlock the secrets to successful submissions to legal journals with our concise blog post. Explore essential tips, best practices, and common pitfalls to avoid when preparing and submitting your work for publication. Whether you're a seasoned scholar or aspiring writer, empower yourself with the knowledge and strategies needed to navigate the world of legal publishing effectively.

[dontforgetme-nopause-blog]

Menopause Narratives: The Interplay of Women’s Embodied Experiences with Biomedical Discourses

Hyde, Abbey, Jean Nee, Etaoine Howlett, Johnathan Drennan, and Michelle Butler. 2010 “Menopause Narratives: The Interplay of Women’s Embodied Experiences with Biomedical Discourses.” Qualitative Health Research 20(6) 805-815.

In this study, Hyde et. Al work to uncover the ways in which the medicalization of menopause has affected the embodied, lived experiences of women. Their research is based on a theory that explains the importance of the "cultural authority of biomedicine [is] in shaping their experiences of the body and in altering their subject position and health identity" (2010). Furthermore, they not only wanted to explore how the arbitrary biomedical model influences how women deal with and feel toward menopause, but also looks to find out how much women rely on this model in order to diagnose oneself menopausal. 

This research was conducted in Ireland through individual in-depth, qualitative interviews. From their research they found that “almost 77% of participants were influenced by the authority of medicine in diagnosing menopause, predominantly because of the doubt and confusion surrounding their bodily changes that affected their usual sense of well-being” (2010:808-809). Most participants in this study heavily relied on the confirmation from a doctor to verify menopausal legitimacy, despite already knowing oneself and body and what was changing within. Furthermore, many participants cite that they simply could not have closure or be definitive within themselves without the doctor. The reliance on doctor authority was so strong with some participants that they would visit multiple times a month, if the doctor originally said it was not menopause, in order to satisfy what they already knew. This lends evidence to how strong the normalizing power and authority we allow the biomedical model to dictate how the body is experienced.

[dontforgetme-nopause-blog]

Sex and the Menopausal Woman: A Critical Review and Analysis

Ussher, Jane, Janette Perez, and Chloe Parton. 2015. "Sex and the Menopausal Woman: A Critical Review and Analysis." Feminism & Psychology 25(4):449-468.

Ussher et. Al take a look at the Medicalization of menopause and how it has affected women's attitude toward it. Specifically, this study explores the way in which the medical discourse influenced the experience and embodiment of sexuality throughout the menopause years.They base this study on the theory that "the evidence for a direct association between hormonal changes and sexual desire, response, or activity is unpersuasive, as no direct relationship has ever been reported between hormonal changes and vaginal lubrication, sexual interest, or sexual activity" (2015:451).

The researchers used past studies as resources in combination with in-depth interviews conducted with 60 women. Through this, Ussher et. Al challenge the biomedical model by suggesting that "sexual difficulties or disinterest reported by women during and after menopause are more strongly associated with psycho-social factors than hormonal status, in particular psychological well-being, relationship context, and a woman's negotiation of cultural constructions of sex, aging, and femininity" (2015:449).  The researchers also concluded that it was not the menopause itself but the signs of aging that came with it that affected their sexual desire. One of the participants said, "I would go with menopause if it didn't make the hair grown on my face so much" (2015:457). Therefore, the cultural contexts where there is a perpetuated need to maintain societal beauty standards and a youthful image influences sexual desire more than hormonal levels.

[dontforgetme-nopause-blog]

Cross-cultural Menopausal Experience: Comparison of Australian and Taiwanese Women

Fu, Shiu-Yun, Debra Anderson, and Mary Courtney. 2003. "Cross-cultural Menopausal Experience: Comparison of Australian and Taiwanese Women." Nursing and Health Sciences 5(1):77-84.

Fu et. Al look to explore the differences in menopausal experiences between Australian and Taiwanese women. The researchers base their study on theories and evidence that suggest that menopausal experience is affected by one's social environment "and is, to some extent, culturally constructed" (2003:77).  While emphasizing the difference of culture, they explain how "in these Asian cultures, menopause is seen as a transition to a higher status" (2003:78). However, with menopausal women in Western culture, society centers the conversation within a medical model that highlights the aspect of loss. Therefore, they also look to explore how the Western culture and its focus on constant access to health-related information perpetuates medicalization rather than viewing it as a normal part of aging.  

Through the use of quantitative surveys, Fu et. Al concluded that "Significantly fewer Taiwanese women (19.8%) reported using HRT than Australian women (41.5%)" (2003:79). Furthermore, they related this to a previous study that found that "American women are better informed about HRT than their Taiwanese counterparts" (2003:82), and I felt this could have to do with the Western culture and the Medicalization of reproductive processes. Australian women still experienced more menopausal symptoms than Taiwanese women did. The researchers pointed out how social functioning was found to be predictive of menopausal symptoms, so the strong connectedness to the community and support system could attribute to their ability to deal with menopause in a way that yields less symptoms.

[dontforgetme-nopause-blog]

Like Mother, (Not) like Daughter: The Social Construction of Menopause and Aging

Utz, Rebecca. 2011. "Like Mother, (not) like Daughter: The Social Construction of Menopause and Aging." Journal of Aging Studies 25(2):143-154.

This study looks to explore the comparison between two different cohorts of women that were born into distinct differing generations—mothers born in the 1920s and their daughters who were born in the 1950s, also known as the baby boomer generation.  By comparing these two cohorts of women, she looks to explore how the shift from "natural, developmental transition to an increasingly more medicalized perspective that emphasizes biological deficits of the female aging body" affects the ways in which women define and deal with menopause through social recontstruction. This study is based on the theory that "a woman's self-reported experience of health will parallel the normative definitions held by her primary social group… [Therefore], a woman of particular cultural descent may be more likely to report symptoms or use particular types of discourse to describe her experience if these types of behaviors coincide with the normative definitions of her primary social group" (2011:144).

Utz uses in-depth interviews with a cohort of 26 women over a span of a six-year period in order to gather information, and through her research, there were some interesting findings. For example, the daughters describe and treat menopause using the biomedical model citing physiological processes, while the mothers just "waited for it to be over." (2011:147). Utz attributes this to the universal presence of reproductive medical technology, such as the pill, HRT, etc. The baby boomer generation "were among the first cohort of women to experience their entire adult lifespan with an ability to pharmaceutically control fertility and family planning" (2011:149). Also, the ever-increasing access to health-related media allows constant access to consultation, whereas the mothers would only go to their doctors or would not research at all.

[dontforgetme-nopause-blog]

Menopause is the “Good Old”: Women’s Thoughts About Reproductive Aging

Dillaway, Heather. 2005. "Menopause is the 'Good Old': Women's Thoughts about Reproductive Aging." Gender & Society 19(3):398-416.

Through a symbolic interactionist perspective, Heather Dillaway looks to explore women in the United States and their attitude toward menopause. Also, she looks to answer questions regarding how "the context of women's previous reproductive experience, comparisons of menopause with other aging processes, and structural and ideological shifts" change the meanings women associate with menopause and reproductive aging (2005:399).  Dillaway bases her research on the theory that aging experiences are more positive than initially assumed because the same daily activities are occurring as when they are younger. Furthermore, she stresses the important of how the lived experiences of menopause are affected by the social contexts women live in. Dillaway uses in-depth qualitative interviews to gather information from 45 participants within her study. She only included women who were perimenopausal of menopausal and were experiencing menopause naturally. 

The findings from this research are very interesting to me because there is a strong emphasis on the intersection between the use of contraceptives and its effect on the women’s views toward menopause.  For the participants within the study, menopause was not a worrisome transition because it did not signify the end of fertility because the end came when "they took conscious action to rid themselves of the possibility of biological motherhood" (2005:405). Although there were worries of the onset of menopause, it had to do with the bodily health factors that came with it. For example, osteoporosis, breast cancer, heart disease, etc. However, overall, for the women within this study, menopause was a liberation rather than a dooming stage in life, in fact, they welcomed it. 

[dontforgetme-nopause-blog]

Comparing the Attitudes of Urban and Rural Iranian Women Toward Menopause

Khademi, S. and M. s. Cooke. 2003. “Comparing the attitudes of urban and rural Iranian women toward menopause.” Maturitas 46(2):113–21.

In this article, Khademi and Cooke look to compare the attitudes of urban and rural Iranian Women toward menopause based on the theory that the socio-cultural context in which a woman lives can greatly affect one’s lived in experience of menopause. The authors referenced various studies that exemplify how western culture fixate on youth and the maintenance of a youthful image. Through this, they based their hypothesis, in that, urban women (who live a more westernized lifestyle) wwould feel negative toward menopause, while rural women would feel positive toward menopause. They conducted interviews through a questionnaire with 70 Tehranian women as representation for the urban population and 49 Semiromian women as representation for the rural population. The participants were allowed to openly communicate and add comments to their interviews. 

Khademi and Cooke found that the results of their study did not support their hypothesis because they concluded it was the opposite. Urban Iranian women had a positive outlook on menopause, while rural Iranian women had a negative outlook.  The research suggests that the difference in scores and the results contradictory to the hypothesis may be due to the rural women's fertility being an asset.  For example, according to Khademi and Cooke, "the dramatic contribution of question 8 concerning loss of ability to bear children to the lower rural total scores underscores the relatively constricted role of rural Iranian women" (Khademi and Cooke, 2003).  However, this was not such an issue for Urban Iranian women because most (69%) of them had jobs and were highly educated, and therefore, they had a broader social identity. 

I found this article interesting because it grabbed insight into attitudes toward menopause within a pronatalist country. Also, it further stressed the importance of being aware of the sociocultural and socioeconomic environment that women live in to understand how her menopause can be affected.