Before you get up in arms about my objectifying language, know that I'm not talking about these women's appearances. I'm referring to the fact that they are all in what's becoming more often referred to as peri. Not to be confused with Nando's popular peri peri chicken, peri means perimenopause, and for some reason it's taken until 2022 for people to start talking about it, and for people to start listening.
Perimenopause encompasses the years women experience irregular ovulation and menstrual cycles. Women endure familiar symptoms like hot flushes, night sweats and weight gain, and some we are less familiar with, including brain fog, anxiety, rage, insomnia and depression. Menopause refers to only one day, the 12-month anniversary of the first day of your last period. After this, you are post-menopausal.
Thankfully women are finding their voices about this because, for too long, and I mean decades if not centuries, women have endured many things hormonal in silence. Women experiencing hormonal changes used to be dismissed as hysterical or of such delicate constitution that they shouldn't be troubled with matters regarding their own bodies. These days women are talking about strategies to cope with things like brain fog because be you a cleaner, cashier, consultant or CEO, hormonal changes don't discriminate.
Women with profiles and voices, like Mia Freedman of media giant Mamamia, are raising awareness about perimenopause and are doing so loudly. Social media, often vilified and held up as the root cause of everything bad in society, has come into its own providing information, support and visibility, with female-led media and lifestyle outlets catering to the growing number of women who want to know about their bodies, their hormones and want readily available information from experts and others in the proverbial trenches.
Unfortunately, the feminist dichotomy still exists even within something so uniquely feminine, exampled by one of Freedman's colleagues at Mamamia hesitant to admit to her perimenopausal symptoms like brain fog, for fear that it will reinforce the outdated view that women aren't up to the task on big or important jobs. Nicola Sturgeon isn't so hesitant, speaking up recently about her concerns around handling important and visible moments alongside the symptoms of perimenopause.
In response to the mystery of her own symptoms, she refreshingly refers to herself as "peri AF", and a lack of good information, Mia Freedman and Mamamia created the Very Peri Summit. The online summit has gathered eleven experts who will take participants through what perimenopause actually is and will offer workable and realistic advice for everything from not recognising your body, to how to handle peri in the workplace, to mental health, plus natural treatments and HRT.
With people like Freedman, her panellists, celebrities and fan-favourite Doctor Libby Weaver leading the conversation around perimenopause, we may demystify this challenging and sometimes lonely time and offer targeted support for women and their families. The better part of women's lives is taken up with hormonal changes and challenges, and I feel hopeful and excited that these women will be instrumental in paving the way for future generations to be better informed and more confident about each stage of their lives.
