It's all about the words...


I read an article about the menopause in the Sunday National today. Well, I was glad it was at least written by a woman. That's not always the case. I'm probably one of many women who have turned up to see a consultant about menopausal problems and discovered the 'expert' was a man.

The article is well written. The only part I took exception to was where the writer talked about the menopause being 'part of the ageing process.' And I wondered: is it only women who age?

When I was enduring the menopause - about 25 years ago - I went to a show in the Royal Concert Hall by Chris Rea. I don't know who I expected to come out singing 'Driving Home for Christmas' but it wasn't an old man in dungarees. Bare arms are not a good look for a man after a certain age. He looked - well - pale and flabby. On the road to hell, in my opinion.

But he was well received. A music star is always a star, even when he's ageing.


Trying to think of a female performer, I'm reduced to comparing Chris Rea to Dolly Parton. Dolly has never mentioned the menopause, as far as I can remember. In fact, Dolly doesn't seem to accept ageing at all. And maybe that's the way to go: never mind the ageing crap, just get on with living. But I know which icon I'm rooting for here...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thank you for having me

That has to be the most annoying phrase of the 2020 US presidential election. I'd only ever heard 'thank you for having me' on US tv till recently, but it hasn't taken long for it to spread to the monkey-see-monkey-do journalists in the UK. Where the US presidential election is concerned, if you live in Europe, you're in one of two camps. Either you're fed up with the whole business and have told everyone on social media that you couldn't care less who the next US president is. Or you're watching in amazement as a man who still claims to be the defender of US democracy does his best to undermine the democratic process.  I'm in the second group.  We honestly can't afford to ignore what's going on in the USA. The Westminster government is keeping very quiet. And we know why: Trump doesn't rate them and Biden is suspicious of them.   I like the USA - what I've seen of it - the east coast, the west coast and the southern states. I've
Read more

Long Covid

I'm watching and reading about the after-effects of Covid 19. These involve people who apparently recover well but are left with terrible after-effects that ruin their health and their lives.  Here are some people I know about:  One woman (38), a health club instructor, a Zumba, yoga and Pilates teacher, was leading classes 44 hours a week. Now she can't work. Another woman (31), a professional dancer, has contracted a severe form of Guilain-Barre. After 4 months she can walk again but her future is uncertain. A PE teacher (35) is still off work after 5 months, although he has never taken sick leave in 12 years. The first person I described here is self-employed. The other two are covered by employers' and state health schemes. I hope they all make a good recovery and suffer no long-term ill-effects - or end up on benefits long term. That's no life for anyone.  But I'd suggest that nobody of any age should take it for granted that they can "ride out" the v
Read more

Boogaloo

 In a way, I should be happy that the British Tories are too thick to organise themselves.  I'm reading right now about movements in the USA that are openly or covertly supported by Donald Trump and the Republican Party and their hangers-on.  Boogaloo is the new one.  You can read about it here: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/whitmer-conspiracy-allegations-tied-boogaloo-movement-n1242670?fbclid=IwAR3cwWJLptngSLlDmEUzEVU8L50VsxUfGvSn6vu870_WdUjvLbo_nDOHDuE Americans are good at making up names like this.  Apparently, Boogaloo is another right wing militia group. Some of its members were involved in the planned abduction (and murder?) of the legally-elected governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer.  Sometimes, Republican politicians fail to reveal themselves because they're too scared to declare who they really are and what they really stand for. These days Republicans like Trump are worse than any right wing militias: they are happy to unleash gun-toting nutters on their f
Read more