Menopausal and free!

"I had already been bleeding for several months. The bleeding had to be stopped, so I was given an injection that would temporarily stop my cycles; in other words, I had an artificial menopause. "Nothing too bad," the gynaecologist assured me. Except that two weeks later, I was nothing but waves and storms. I was hit from the left, from the right, from the middle. I was knocked out on my spotless white sofa. I could hardly breathe. I was cold, shaking, aching, crying. Dryness, hot flushes, pain, heartache."

Menopause. The critical age, the winter of women, the green old age... So many expressions that say a lot about the way this pivotal moment in women's lives, when they are no longer able to procreate, is considered.

But why is it so often mocked in our society, why does it make women invisible to the world, why does it remain one of the last taboos at a time when women are free to speak out?

Tracing the origins of the term - born from the pen of Charles de Gardanne in 1821 - interviewing specialists, sharing her experience and her thoughts, the author investigates. She examines the physiological, psychological, sexual and professional impacts of the menopause, deconstructs archetypes and proposes a change of perspective. The menopause then leaves the rational - and often terrifying - dial in which it has been placed to become touching, vibrant and sometimes funny. A path emerges to reinvent the experience of the menopause.

Book in French