Share this page!

Mona Eltahawy Profile picture
Twitter logo
Nov 12 • 9 tweets • 4 min read
Fucking finally!
I have been eager to get here, to #Postmenopause finally!

The past five years of #Perimenopause were some of the most difficult of my life.

When they say the #Menopause transition is like puberty in reverse, it is no lie.
I remember how overwhelmed by it all 11.5yo me was when I first got my period--the physical changes, yes, and also just as hard the emotional and mental changes.

When I was 13 and then when I was 16, I had my first experiences of depression. They were difficult years.
And now when I look back at the past five years or so, especially, the exit to puberty's entrance, so to speak, it was anxiety that floored me.

Wow, I had no idea.

I know Postmenopause is not a solid line of IT'S OVER but fuck it all, I'm free!
I want to go back to 11.5yo Mona and tell her what fucking hero she is and will be!

I often say I shaved off all my hair during lockdown to physically honour the change the pandemic has wrought on us all. It was all also to circle back to Puberty Mona and say: WE FUCKING DID IT Mona from the shoulders up ...Mona from the waist up with...
And you know that shit they say about cis women becoming "invisible"? Fuck that shit. First of all, "invisible" to who?

Because as I say here, I feel like running up to older women in the subway and yelling “I KNOW! I FUCKING KNOW!”

They are all I see!
feministgiant.com/p/essay-menopa…
I want a world where we congratulate each other on becoming Postmenopausal.

You know that film Turning Red? I love it so much. I wish 11.5yo Mona had it when she first got her period.

Now, 55yo Mona wants a sequel about the mother's Menopause Transition
So, HELLO FROM THIS SIDE!

I am fucking finally here, at Postmenopause.

Finally, finally!

Menopause is the hardest thing that has ever happened to me. And it’s the best thing I’ve ever gone through.

Menopause is shit. Menopause is amazing.
feministgiant.com/p/essay-menopa…
Thank you all who have shared their menopause transition with me!

I'll be turning the above into my new essay, here very soon.

Subscribe for free--no paywall or ads.

If you can pay, it helps to keep it free.

feministgiant.com

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Mona Eltahawy

Mona Eltahawy Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @monaeltahawy

Mona Eltahawy Profile picture
Nov 13
As I have been telling the entire world, with great delight, I am now post menopause--which means I've gone 12 months without a period.

I continue to celebrate!

Here's Lucille Clifton's poem to my last period poets.org/poem/my-last-p…
#Menopause Text of a poem: to my last...
I subscribe to the Poem a Day from the Academy of American Poets and I love that this one, Menopause by C. Prudence Arceneaux, was one of them. I highly recommend listening to the poet read her poem!
poets.org/poem/menopause #Menopause Text of poem: Menopause C....Text: grasping for purchas...
And I especially love the About This Poem, especially this:

"Because, what is life without some derailing sexual desires?”
—C. Prudence Arceneaux
#Menopause Text: About This Poem “Meno...
Read 8 tweets
Mona Eltahawy Profile picture
Nov 12
What if menopause isn’t a reckoning with losing what patriarchy had told us made cis women powerful–youth, fertility–and that instead of feeling we’ve been rendered invisible because what made us desirable to patriarchy is now “lost,” we feel instead that we’re finally visible?
Visible in all the ways that during our youthful, “fertile” yrs, we most defied patriarchy & so patriarchy had tried its best to erase those of us who refused to obey, who refused the “power” of motherhood, and we know that we’re now finally ungovernable?

feministgiant.com/p/essay-menopa…
I am not exaggerating when I say I only see older women when I’m out.

I am curious to know what their lives are like post menopause.

I want to know what this stage of their lives—when patriarchy tells us we are least “valuable” and “visible”—is like for them.
Read 6 tweets
Mona Eltahawy Profile picture
Nov 12
Today is my 1st day being post-menopausal.

I've been learning on the job, so to speak, both the terminology and the experience of this transition in life.

Menopause is just 1 day--that day that marks 12 months since your last period.

Until new essay feministgiant.com/p/essay-menopa…
Necessary to see more people with huge platforms talk about #menopause.

"There is not a lot of conversation about menopause. I'm going through it, and I know all of my friends are going through it. And the information is sparse," Michelle Obama.

"I never used to weigh myself. I'm not trying to stick to numbers, but when you're in menopause, you have this slow creep that you just don't realize," people.com/health/michell… #menopause
Read 7 tweets
Mona Eltahawy Profile picture
Nov 10
Is Marjorie Taylor Greene ok? Has someone checked in on her? h/t @rerutled
If Marjorie Taylor Greene was a Muslim, she would be in Guantanamo Bay and in shackles.

But because she is white, evangelical, and a woman--a rich one at that--Greene is instead a member of Conress in the most powerful country in the world.

feministgiant.com/p/if-marjorie-… #Midterms
Marjorie Taylor Greene is one of the most dangerous politicians in the U.S. today.

That she increasingly represents the face of the GOP speaks volumes about how craven that party is and how complicit white women are in upholding it.

Greene, like Trump, is not aberration
Read 13 tweets
Mona Eltahawy Profile picture
Nov 9
For anyone still surprised that so many white women still vote Republican after Roe v Wade was overturned

feministgiant.com/p/essay-the-wh… #Midterms #AbortionRights
White, Christian zealots used democracy to cut it at its knees by destroying the right to abortion–a right which most Americans support. feministgiant.com/p/essay-the-ha…
So successful has white supremacist patriarchy been at convincing you that you’re lucky to live in the U.S. and not Saudi Arabia or Iran, that so many of you did not pay enough attention to the theocracy that white supremacy was building right here. feministgiant.com/p/essay-dear-w…
Read 6 tweets
Mona Eltahawy Profile picture
Nov 9
When the final results of the U.S. #MidtermElection are in, let's see how many women governors, senators, representative etc are at the age of the #menopause transition and how many talk about it publicly in the way only Nicola Sturgeon so far has.
For many reasons, cis women reach pinnacles of political power as they enter midlife–age requirements of certain political positions, children (if they have them) have grown, or simply because it takes years to accrue power and to make it up that ladder.

#Menopause #Midterms
And it is at that moment, in midlife as they accrue the most political power, that cis women also go through the menopause transition.

feministgiant.com/p/essay-the-po… #MidtermElections2022 #Menopause
Read 9 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Send Email!

:(