Thread by @monaeltahawy

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

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

And I especially love the About This Poem, especially this:

"Because, what is life without some derailing sexual desires?”
—C. Prudence Arceneaux
#Menopause

As I say in this essay:

Few things are surrounded by more shame and silence than a cis woman who is no longer young, her vagina which is no longer wet, and her sex drive which is not supposed to exist. feministgiant.com/p/moisturize-y… #Menopause

I am learning, much to my thrill and awe, that one of the greatest gifts of the transition known as menopause is shamelessness. I am not known as one easily shamed nor is modesty one of my virtues.
#Menopause

Still, I gasp at the heights of audacity that I like to think come monthly in lieu of my menstrual cycle. It is as if instead of monthly shedding the lining of my uterus, I am shedding the lining of patriarchal fuckery that I was socialized into.
#Menopause

Patriarchy deploys shame like a drone:it shadows you, ready to take you out any minute, exhausting you by keeping you forever aware of its presence to the detriment of all other things.

Fuck shame. That's why I talk so loudly about my menopause transition
feministgiant.com/p/essay-menopa…

It has been important to me to share my menopause transition with you all. It has helped me and I hope provided solidarity for anyone who needed it.

I'll be writing more here. It's free to subscribe. If you can pay, it helps to keep it free.

feministgiant.com