| The goal of this study was to understand women's communication regarding their experience with the life cycle stage of menopause and to explore the role of objectification in this experience. Twenty-one focus group interviews of 130 premenopausal, menopausal, and postmenopausal women provided data for qualitative analysis. Analysis of the data revealed that the women used nine core categories: (a) the objectification of self and others, (b) body surveillance, (c) body shame, (d) control issues, (e) menopause as a taboo subject, (f) women's reactions to medicine and science, (g) the use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and the surgeries associated with menopause, (h) the media and (i) the most frequently used emotional category, fear. The analysis of the focus group disclosures suggest that objectification played a central role in the participants' experience of this key life cycle event. The findings highlight the impact of objectification throughout a woman's life in Western culture. They confirm the hypothesis that mid-life women's disclosures reflect the impact of an objectifying society: one that values and rewards women who conform to rules of conduct that dictate menopause should be kept secret and guarded against public disclosure. The results suggest the need to reframe Western medicine's current concept of menopause as an illness requiring drug treatment. |
