What the menopause marketers won’t tell you: ageing is to be celebrated | Stella Duffy

<p>Advertisers exploit our misogynistic culture, making women feel as if their bodies are broken. But better information might just help</p><p>How was your Menopause Awareness Day 2025? Did you slip out of your meno pyjamas, sip your meno tea with a slice of homemade flaxseed-added bread and a side order of meno chocolate? Did you rush off to the gym to lift weights then to a pilates class to keep you healthy for ever? Did you remember your MHT (menopause hormone therapy – the now widely accepted term for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/nov/07/hrt-should-be-offered-as-first-line-treatment-for-menopause-says-nice">HRT</a>) pill, patch, gel, pessary, suppository or cream, trusting your GP or private clinic to be prescribing for you and only you, grateful that finally medication has made a difference for you? Or did you think: “How the hell do I know what is right for me?”</p><p>If you wondered who you can trust, you’re not alone. In an <a href="https://academic.oup.com/heapro/article/40/5/daaf168/8275728">Australian study</a> published earlier this month, more than 500 women aged 45-64 noted “significant scepticism” about the motives of the pharmaceutical industry, along with genuine concern about who to trust and who was after their money at a vulnerable time of life. Now researchers warn that women are being exploited in a “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/oct/20/millions-exploited-by-menopause-gold-rush-amid-lack-of-reliable-information-say-experts">menopause gold rush</a>”.</p><p>Stella Duffy is a writer, theatremaker and existential psychotherapist in private practice. Her book Being the Change will be published in 2027</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/20/menopause-market-change-culture-women-bodies">Continue reading...</a>