‘I don’t know whether it is to do with age or to do with hormones and whether it is do with a stage in your life’: Making sense of menopause and the body

Abstract

This article discusses a mixed-methods study that explored women's views about menopause and any relationship between these and several measures of body consciousness. A total of 270 women in the United Kingdom completed surveys of menopausal attitudes, self-objectification, body surveillance and body shame. There was a positive association between rating highly on body dissatisfaction scales and holding negative attitudes towards menopause. Interviews (n = 12) were conducted to investigate this further. Menopause was inextricably linked with aging for these women, and changing appearance was a particular concern for women who rated high on self-objectification. The implications of this are discussed.