You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
This essay explores issues related to menstruation, perimenopause, and menopause from the author’s position as a postmenopausal woman. The author’s reflection considers the reproductive expectations placed on her body and the subsequent renunciation and avoidance of these bodily processes. The absence of menstrual blood and the limited exploration of perimenopause and menopause in contemporary psychoanalytic literature suggests an alignment with broader cultural taboos, silences, secrets, and gender-role expectations of menstruating bodies.