SEXTANT: masculinities, sexualities & decolonialities

ABSTRACT

Menopause research is overwhelmingly ‘heteronormative’ – the dominant conceptualisation of heterosexuality as the natural state, which, in this case, leads to the under-representation of lesbian sexual activity from midlife. A pervasive Western expectation is that as people age their sexual activity decreases, a pattern negatively impacting lesbians who fall outside of this stereotype by reducing their representation in research. The mid-life experience of menopause typically affects women and menstruating people between 45-55 (WHO, 2023). Abundant academic and popular literature exists for heterosexual women to ‘self-help’ through menopause, but they often omit lesbian women’s experiences which can be strikingly different. These women have historically been underrepresented in menopause research, and until the 1990s topics like their relationships with biomedical professionals, coping strategies, and views on ageing were ignored (Hyde et al., 2011). Literature on menopause often uses language that is pathologising, presenting the natural end of the cycle of female reproduction as a disease requiring medication. 

KEY WOrDS

menopause; lesbian; midlife; gender; sexuality

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