Women are saying things in the research data, like, I thought I was going to be this used up,

dried up, useless, decaying, nearly dead women based on how I was portrayed in the media,

based on how people were talking about menopause and perimenopause. And I feel more vibrant

than I've ever felt. I feel more connected to myself. I feel more empowered. I care less about what people think than I've ever cared.

And I feel more passionate about the things that make me feel alive. And there's all of these

like existential things in there too. Like, okay, I'm aware that I'm in the second half of life,

which puts me in a conversation

around aging and death that I wasn't aware of previously, but I'm still young enough that I feel

like I can do something about the life that I'm in. It's like that really tender, important death

awareness, age awareness thing that can sometimes catalyze us into living a life that we really

want. And it was actually going through perimenopause and entering menopause and being postmenopausal

that women said initiated for them the sense of a renewed experience of themselves. The views and opinions expressed on unpaused are those of the talent and guests alone and are provided for informational and entertainment purposes only.

No part of this podcast or any related materials are intended

to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Today's conversation is a different kind of menopause episode. Because yes, we're going to talk

about perimenopause and the menopausal transition, but we're not starting with a list of symptoms

and a prescription pad. We're starting with the whole person, body, brain, story, culture,

and the social scripts we've all been handed about what it means to age as a woman.

My guest is Dr. Hilary McBride. She's a psychologist, researcher, author, whose research focuses on

women's lived experience of embodiment across the lifespan, and especially what happens in perimenopause

and menopause during this critical biocycl social transition. She brings a feminist,

femonological lens to the work,

...