Living Menopause

Lori Beth De Hertogh is Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director in the School of Writing, Rhetoric & Technical Communication at James Madison University, USA. Ann E. Green is Professor of English and Writing at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, USA. Cristina Hanganu-Bresch is Professor of English and Director of Writing Programs at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, USA. Laura R. Micciche is Professor of English and area director of the rhetoric and composition graduate program at the University of Cincinnati, USA. Cathryn Molloy is Professor of Writing Studies in the English department at the University of Delaware, USA. Bryna Siegel Finer is Professor of English and Director of Undergraduate Writing Programs at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA. Jamie White-Farnham is Professor in the Writing Program and serves as Director of Teaching, Learning, and Technology at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, USA.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Living With/And/Through Menopause1. My Body/My Mother’s Body: Caregiving During Menopause Anne E. Green (Saint Joseph's University, US)2. The Women’s Health Initiative Study: A Rhetorical History Cristina Hanganu-Bresch (Saint Joseph's University, US)3. The Grappling is Happening: The Multiple Menopause Discourses of Television Jamie White-Farnham (University of Wisconsin-Superior, US)4. “I had NO idea:” Rhetorics of Choice and the Effects of Surgical Menopause Bryna Siegel Finer (Indiana University of Pennsylvania, US)5. Hushed Rhetorics and Menopausal Teachers: “It’s super taboo, let’s be honest” Laura R. Micciche (University of Cincinnati, US)6. “Capitalism Has Gotten Its Hooks into Menopause and Wants to Shake It Until Money Falls Out:” Rhetorical Consequences of Monetizing Menopause Lori Beth De Hertogh (James Madison University, US) and Cathryn Molloy (University of Delaware, US)Conclusion. The Future of MenopauseAppendix A. Survey QuestionsAppendix B. Quantitative DataIndexAbout the Authors

Living Menopause advances rhetoric of reproductive health by foregrounding the multidimensional embodiment of menopause. Each chapter traces how individuals come to know, become, and navigate the menopausal body. The authors’ willingness to articulate personal experience underscores the necessity of sustained scholarly attention to bodily taboos and stigmas while opening space for reimagining reproductive futures and collective action. Taken together, the book strengthens rhetorical scholarship that centers the lived realities, narratives, and embodied knowledge of reproductive bodies.