Menopause (& peri & post) as creative transition

A wide-ranging conversation (with too many people for me to note names) that started with some basic menopause definitions from me (Stella) and opened space for individual experiences of menopause - some difficult (physically, physiologically, emotionally) sharing.
Approx 1/4 of us were in postmenopause, almost half peri (or the menopause year), 1/4 premenopause.

Among the many things that came up were:
- a reflection on how it is for a "usually strong, has all the answers" mother to now seem/be without answers, less certain, less 'strong' (and a question from me re might there also be strength in uncertainty, in not knowing?)
- finding oneself quieter in perimenopause than earlier in life and wondering if this is an always change or another phase and might open space for more 'loud' voice later on (not least because of valuing quiet, but not wanting to be 'quietened'), and can we be quietly confident?
- the importance of noting it is different for everyone and EVERY BODY
- that we cannot leak, sweat, be WET on stage, film, tv - that our bodies need controlling
- the way the wider world has a problem with our leaky cunty juicy bodies (and thanks for BSL interpreter at this point in particular!)
- a question about why is it called MENopause and my explanation that it is ménopause, Gardenne's 1821 term for the cessation of menstruation
- whose responsibility is the sharing of knowledge? both ours and the medical establishment's, a need to share more widely ALL the experiences not just some of them
- disparities for Black, Asian, disabled, neurodiverse, minoritised people in menopause (and noting that transmen and nb people also menopause)
- the rise of anger and/or anxiety and/or fed-up-ness in menopause, and noting that ALL of our feelings are valid, including those feelings women have traditionally been encouraged not to share/expose/experience
- menopause as a place where we might come into our own power, opening out more, knowing more, being more - but/and we might need/want/value support around this±
- menopause as a transition similar to the transitions of puberty, pregnancy, parenthood, infertility
- meno-marketing and making money from our experience!
- noting the In Tune programme being developed at UCL
- can we 'midwife' menopause? (for each other perhaps?)
- we want to be allowed to talk about it at work - and not to talk about it, there is no solid 'guidelines' that works for all
- appreciating the different energies in the menstrual cycle and in menopause