Fighting the signs of aging is not only acceptable, but it’s also big business—yet the taboo around menopause and the invisibility of older women in most parts of the media is deafening.

As Emilie Pine writes in Notes to Self: Essays: “If getting my period was ‘becoming a woman,’ I fear that the end of my period is the end of being a woman. As I think about bleeding, and not bleeding, I realize that the cultural silence around female blood is part of a much wider problem—a total shitstorm—of how women’s bodies are imagined, aestheticized, and policed to be a certain way. Any variations from the approved script render you invisible and silent.”

According to research released by the Women’s Worth study by UM London and Karen Fraser, director of advertising think tank Credos:

• Nearly half (44%) of UK women aged 50+ feel patronized by advertising (compared to 31% of all women), while more than a quarter (27%) feel that ads contribute to creating and maintaining negative stereotypes of their demographic group.
• Among the same group, 59% of older women believe there are negative stereotypes surrounding the way women are generally perceived in society.
• Society treats the very existence of menopause with anachronistic awkwardness. Menopausal women attribute this largely to a lack of understanding (65%) and because people don’t talk about it (62%).
• 20% of menopausal/post-menopausal women believe it has positively affected their ability to relax and indulge in leisure activities.
• Almost a quarter (24%) of women going through menopause spend more money on exercise and fitness; 16% spend more on beauty and makeup; 29% spend more on skincare; 29% spend more on health supplements, and 22% spend more on travel.
• Nearly two-thirds (64%) of women over 50 had a very clear sense of their own identity; 52% say their age is an important part of their identity while 61% say their family and traditions are very important; 62% say health and well-being; 53% say relationships; 45% say their appearance; and almost half (49%) say it is their health and fitness levels.
• More than three-quarters (76%) of women over age 50 feel either very confident or somewhat confident inside their own skin.
• Among women who have been or are going through menopause, 31% believe that advertising contributes towards creating and maintaining negative stereotypes of older women. Yet 48% of women believe that women working in the public eye are promoting positive impressions of older women in society.

Read the full article on Campaign.

Photo: Joshua Ness via Unsplash

The post Just The Numbers: The Opportunity in Removing the Menopause Stigma appeared first on BeautyMatter.

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