Odense Municipality has become the first in the country to budget for "male menopause".
And now all hell breaks loose.
A specialist in female menopause calls it "a slap in the face to women". Because men's hormones fall gradually over many years, women's abruptly. So the word doesn't fit. The biology is different. The category is wrong.
And listen, friends - she's right.
Done.
That's what's so beautiful about it.
I don't think men have a menopause either. Not in any meaningful sense compared to women. Testosterone seeps, it doesn't crash. A man doesn't walk through a door. He slides down a very long ramp while insisting he's fine on his own.
That last part isn't just silly, it's downright stupid of him - but that's another post. And one we can easily have, including what you should do about it - and when.
But just feel the argument being used -
You can't just take a word that describes women's biological reality and lay it over men. The words must fit the body. The categories must fit reality.
Aha?
Interesting.
I mean. Very interesting.
Isn't it?
Because I remember another word we've been discussing for ten years. And there we were told that biology was a detail, that categories were oppression, and that language just needed to learn to contain a little more.
That a man can absolutely be a woman.
Ok.
But a man can't have a menopause?
There.
Right there the line is drawn. I mean. Scientifically ™.
😎😁🤷♂️
So welcome back to language that must fit the body. We've kept the door open the whole time.
It's just not so fun when it's your own word being borrowed.
Is it?
😉
Happy week, friends ❤️
