Brazen Bibliophage

If you have (or had) a uterus and ovaries, you know what change I’m talking about. But you might not know as much about it as you’d like or maybe even as much as you think. These books either focus on the change or the reproductive organs at the center of it.

My recent medical experiences inspired this post. I’m finally free of my useless uterus (and cervix and fallopian tubes, plus stage III endometriosis that I didn’t know but suspected I had). It has caused nothing but pain and misery since I was 12. I knew I never wanted kids, but society doesn’t allow people with uteruses to ditch them based on this. I had to develop a fibroid and lose my shit at an appointment for insurance to approve a hysterectomy. We can do better for people with uteruses!

The Menopause Manifesto by Dr. Jen Gunter

Packed with facts and reassuring information, this is the only book you need to learn more about menopause and arm yourself against the rampant misinformation that proliferates on social media. If you’ve only got time and space for one book on this list, this is the one you buy.

If you have (or had) a uterus and are not following Dr. Jen Gunter everywhere, you have to do it now. You can find her on social media (her Instagram videos are fabulous) and subscribe to her Substack, The Vajenda.

What Fresh Hell Is This? by Heather Corinna

Sure, you want this book for the title and the flaming cover, I get it. But you also get seriously hilarious information about perimenopause and menopause. I referred back to this after I took a jaunt to the ER last November. Turns out I was having an anxiety attack and a hot flash at the same time, not blood clots, a heart attack, or a stroke.

The downside to this book is that Corinna wades into the woo-woo waters regarding supplements, marijuana, shrooms, and other questionable ways to manage symptoms and overall well-being. Be prepared to skip over these parts. If you’re not familiar with shammy cure-alls perpetuated by influencers and quacks, read The Menopause Manifesto and Dr. Jen Gunter’s The Vajenda on Substack first.

Eve by Cat Bohannon

Have you ever wondered why men can’t hear the sounds you’re hearing? In Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution, Cat Bohannon explains it’s because they actually can’t hear them. “These sorts of things continue to plague women—the periodic hum of electricity in fridges, the overtones of ice machines, the tinny buzz of a vacuum when its filter is too full. But it’s not just technology. We’re also more likely to hear the high squeaks of mice making a home in our walls. We’re not crazy. We really can hear these things.”

While this isn’t specific to the change, Bohannon has an entire chapter on menopause. The difference is that Bohannon inspects menopause from biological, sociological, and anthropological perspectives. Yes, what’s happening in our bodies and managing those changes are important. But so is the history around menopause, how society treats those of us during and after, and our understanding of why it happens.

Bonus!