Menopause & Culture

In Menopause and Culture, Gabriella Berger questions the view of menopause as an estrogen-deficiency disease by examining how other vital influences, such as culture, mediate the menopause transition. Her positive and refreshing approach culminates in a cross-cultural examination of Australian and Filipino women’s menopause experiences and concludes in an elegant demonstration of how intricate sociocultural belief systems impact on menopause. Set against a broad review of current and often contradictory literature in the fields of biomedicine, psychiatry, psychology, anthropology and sociology, her findings serve to demystify long-held stereotypical and misogynist views of women as diseased and useless. Menopause is unequivocally more about wellness than illness: this is a book at the cutting edge of medical sociology.