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Gender & Society, Vol. 19, No. 3, 398-417 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0891243204271350

Menopause is the "Good Old"

Women’s Thoughts about Reproductive Aging

Heather E. Dillaway

Wayne State University

Recent feminist research suggests that individual women find menopause an inconsequential or positive experience overall. While recent aging scholarship also documents that contemporary individuals often define aging neutrally or positively, menopause may not resemble other aging processes in meaning and experience. The author argues that menopause, or reproductive aging, may be unique because of its reproductive and aging contexts. Data in this article are based on interviews with 45 middle-class, heterosexual, menopausal women in a midwestern state in 2001. Interviewees propose that, upon menopause, they do not feel old. They explain these feelings by describing their widespread use of contraceptive technologies, greater enjoyment of sexual activity upon menopause, and parallels between menopause and menarche. As women in this sample place menopause within the context of previous reproductive experiences and compare it to other aging processes, they suggest that reproductive aging represents a "good old."

Key Words: menopause • aging • reproduction • gender • meanings • qualitative research


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This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J Aging HealthHome page
A. E. Barrett and C. Robbins
The Multiple Sources of Women's Aging Anxiety and Their Relationship With Psychological Distress
J Aging Health, February 1, 2008; 20(1): 32 - 65.
[Abstract] [PDF]