The Change: Women, Ageing, and the Menopause

by Germaine Greer

"A brilliant, gutsy, exhilarating, exasperating fury of a book."THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEWIn this compulsively readable, fascinating account of menopause, renowned feminist and author Germaine Greer gives us so much more than the medical facts. She has gone back into history, read textbooks, explored novels and poems, and has written a wholly extraordinary account of women and their changes in life.From the Trade Paperback edition.

Genres: Feminism, Nonfiction, Health, Womens, Psychology, Womens Studies, Gender

Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Germaine Greer is an Australian born writer, journalist and scholar of early modern English literature, widely regarded as one of the most significant feminist voices of the later 20th century.

Greer's ideas have created controversy ever since her ground-breaking The Female Eunuch became an international best-seller in 1970, turning her overnight into a household name and bringing her both adulation and criticism. She is also the author of Sex and Destiny: The Politics of Human Fertility (1984), The Change: Women, Ageing and the Menopause (1991), and most recently Shakespeare's Wife (2007).

Reviews

[Cindy Dyson Eitelman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard to review.  Toward the end, she got so "right on!" that I wanted to cheer.  I wanted to pull out quotes and send them to friends.  To cherish the book forever for reading and re-reading.

But then again, maybe I should just get on with my life.

Anyway, her initial chapters dealing with the history of menopause, or the climeractic as she prefers to call it, are as sad as you would expect.  The tendency of male doctors and philosophers to view the female body as a frail, diseased version of a man's; to treat childbearing as the whole purpose of a woman's existence; to expect all women's ultimate desire to be pleasing a husband...well, we know our history, don't we?  It sucked. And the glory age of HTR (hormone replacement therapy) fitted neatly into a world that wanted a pill to pop for every disorder.  Ceasing to have periods was a disorder, wasn't it?  When women complained of the pre-menopausal symptoms, doctors "fixed the problem."  That's what doctors do.

I enjoyed that part of the book and very seldom had to put it aside and pace around the room swearing.  But the last two chapters--The Old Witch and Serenity And Power--are outstanding. Maybe she over-glorified the historical contrast between wizards and witches--wizards are all about spells and transformations, evil eye and dark arts; witches about love spells, healing and herbs.  But the idea of witchery as an escape from the dead and lonely lingering of a useless old woman was a new idea, and it delighted me.

Serenity and Power is a rallying cry for the modern-day elderly woman.  Childbearing and mothering behind; freed from the nuisance of a monthly curse, she can let herself be alive to create the strong old woman she was always meant to be. Yeah.

[Linda Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Nobody knows what to do with a woman who is not perpetually fawning. Calm, grave, quiet women drive anophobes [sic:] to desperation. Women who refuse even to try to empower the penis are old bats and old bags, crones, mothers-in-law, castrating women and so forth. Though female culture cannot afford to give such attitudes even token respectability, we could see our way to exploit male panic if we dared."

[Stephanie Matthews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading for any woman going through the process, however old she is. In fairness, I first read this about 20 years ago but this time I was ready for it and I have to admit, I have enjoyed what I've read. Greer alternates between justified rage, sarcastic wit and academic fact finding which can make the book heavy going at times, but it is ALWAYS worth it. It has, at least, helped me to make a couple of important decisions, which means it's already justified its worth.

[Carolee Wheeler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn’t interested in everything in this book - Greer gets exceedingly specific at times, and makes a great many nasty statements about famous people of the past and present- but the good bits were quite good. ETA: Unfortunately, no amount of wise pronouncements make up for her bigoted TERFism.

[farmwifetwo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Truly no idea the point of the rant. Depressing actually and seems to
be feeding my mood . Dnf'd at 50pgs.

[Cheyenne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has been the Bible for my MA thesis, thank you for doing so much heavy lifting for me Greer <3

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

An important subject and all credit to her for trying to make women feel better about the menopause. Quite academic with lots of research (although a lot of this is now probably a bit out of date, first published in the 90s I think) - but she seems to think homeopathy is perfectly acceptable! Also she is very serious. Banging on about 'the death of the womb' which didn't make me feel very joyful...I shall search out something else on the same subject but a bit more recent and a bit less fierce.

[Pauline · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm going against the grain here, I know pretty much everyone who has reviewed this raves about it but I didn't recognise any of this as my experience.
I persisted, coming back again and again thinking the tide would surely turn and I'd find some resonance in the next few pages, but never did.
Officially throwing in the towel at page 104.
If anyone tells me there's a radical change at some point after that I'll come back and resume reading, otherwise, I'm moving on.

[Dee Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

This heavy book spent time talking about how women's health is oftentimes not taken seriously since it is mostly overseen by men, then also about how women pine for their lost youth. I liked the research side of it, but not so much the anecdotes about women who are ageing in a sad and miserable way. I thought I would end the book feeling empowered about entering the middle years, but instead it left me feeling the opposite.

[Harley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Germaine Greer, still liberating. I love this woman. And I just found out she wrote a 2000 book called The Whole Woman, which I'm going to get ASAP. She's a million times smarter and two years older than I am, and she's my almost-forgotten goddess.

[Brook Clinton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although quite well researched it is far too long. Not a bad book for anyone considering having a worthwhile life as an older woman (she often strays into general discussions of feminisim from the older woman's perspective).

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Germaine. This book was balm to a peri-menopausal soul. Intimate and wide ranging - I laughed, I cried, I was angered and soothed. The most truthful companion I have found to help me traverse this worst/best of times. 5+ stars. One of a kind.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

review to follow, still trying to absorb a lot of what she writes about................hmmm...why does it seem to apply to my Mom more than me......

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has been on my list for years. Greer breaks apart arguments from multiple sources to help women better understand what one can expect from menopause and the myths one is told to believe.

Notes:
"On these years depends the rest if your life, a life that may be as long as the life you have already lived."


"...you are only as young as your most fatigued component, be it heart, lungs, liver, brain, skin, or skeleton."


Possible Symptoms (hard to differentiate from aging symptoms)
*palpitations
*night sweats
*irritability 
*weight gain
*sleeplessness 

Vasomotor (hot flashes, night sweats) symptoms- avoid these:
Caffeine (no more than 1 cup/day)
Sugar
Alcohol
Spicy foods

Inflammation (avoid):
Processed foods

Mood swings/depression (avoid):
Alcohol
Fatty meats (steak, bacon, red meat)

Headaches (avoid alcohol, drink filtered water)


Bloat/weight gain:
Avoid processed food

Good foods:
Lean meats (ck, turkey, lean g beef, fish)
Hemp, chia, flax seeds
Veggies and fruit
Beans
Nuts
Lots of filtered water (britta)


"Only when a woman ceases the fretful struggle to be beautiful can she turn her gaze outward, find the beautiful and feed upon it. She can at last transcend the body 5hat was what other people principally valued her for, and be set free both from their expectations and her own capitulation to them. "


"The best time of life is always now, because it is the only time there is. You can't live regretting what's past, and you can't live anticipating the future. If you spend any amount of time doing either of those things you never live at all. "


"People who are really happy do not concern themselves with convincing others of the fact. "


"She is climbing her own mountain,  in search of her own horizon, after years of being absorbed in the struggles if others. "


"The climacteric marks the end of apologizing. The chrysalis of conditioning has once and for all to break and the female woman finally to emerge."

[Mitchan · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were some interesting points, that I had picked up from other books, but Greer did seem to go off on tangents which I found unfocused and it also grated that she refuses to call it menopause and refers to it as 'climacteric'.

The second chapter in particular rattles on like the muddled train of through of a menopausal woman, was this meant to be ironic?! I did not finish the book but did read slip forward to a chapter about witches which always interests me.

I found it almost too detailed and more focused on women, then menopause specifically (which is perhaps my misinterpretation of the title), I would rather recommend reading Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong—and the New Research That's Rewriting the Story which is much more concise in covering all the same topic in one chapter.

[Julia Atkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book does it all

One it makes you feel extremely sorry for the Victorian women in bygone times angry, The male has a lot to answer for the way the portrait women, and even women portrait women but then they knew no better as they were young and had properly no idea about the menopause.

The quotes were uplifting, and i think this book really shows us that nothing has really changed for women on the Change.

Sure we maybe speaking in whispers about it, even little documentaries on it are well and good
" but if were honest there not that good" work is a joke if you are on the menopause more needs to be done there as well " that is another book in the making maybe??

I have to say i though this book was that good i bought another two for my daughters .. they sure need to know what to expected and too get angry as well how women have been treated and still are .
.
Germaine Greer in her book The Change women, ageing and the menopause (2018) .

[Rita · Rating 3 out of 5]

1991
Greer [b 1939] did a LOT of research for this book! It's full of long quotes from texts from many different time periods, including from literature. She often has a nicely sarcastic comment to make about the more choice quotes, e.g. from male physicians and drug developers.

I spent about two hours skimming the book, I didn't want to take time to read every page. We do need to be frequently reminded to look for -- and watch out for -- the kinds of patriarchal pronouncements medical men [and others] made in the past and continue to make today. That's the main thing Greer is trying to teach us here.

[Judy]

"Reconstructed middle-aged women all look more or less the same; in the unconstructed female face we see the flame working through the clay." p.338
A rambling diatribe about the trials of growing old, the unfairness of the female's role, estrogen replacement, etc. Only at the end does she come out and say that aging can be good. In the rest of the book she seems confused.

[Cate Meredith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely wonderful book about menopause and being age 50. With Germaine's no-nonsense honesty and genuine empathy, this is a book every woman will need to read at least once in her life.

I cannot recommend this highly enough.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Greer seems to want to create The DEFINITIVE text about menopause and women aging and has incorporated SO much research— historical, medical, psychological, and literary—but it was too long and wordy for me. Some brilliant writing, strong advocacy for aging women.

[Marko]

I have the original and the german edition: ab 40

[Rhonda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well researched but repetitive.

[Nurdan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is no doubt a valuable book but sadly it is all over the place. Chapters are largely irrelevant. Facts and personal opinions are hardly distinguishable from one another throughout the book. The underlying anger disrupts the flow. But if you don’t mind stepping back every now and then to separate the wheat from the chaff, you might learn quite a bit from it.

[Rita Anemone · Rating 5 out of 5]

This a good reference book for me at this time in my life and moving forward.

[Clare Staines]

DNF. Much as I admire Germaine Greer the book is too out of date to be relevant to me.

[Kexx · Rating 3 out of 5]

A ‘dipper’ of a book picked up at a 2nd hand book shop. (Thus only 3* as not ‘read’ in the traditional sense.) Interestering.

[Peacefulbookery · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still relevant. Greer is eloquent as always.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Greer’s intellect is not one that should be silenced. I bought this book for my mum in the 90s. I wish she’d read it.

[Zeina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book felt like a revelation at times and a curse at others. I loved the notion of menopause as a return to a former self—a freer body liberated from the burdens of child bearing and childbirth and the pressures and (self?) expectations that come with being sexualised.

I found enlightening her critique of the demonisation of old women, often cast as witches or crones, in Western cultural traditions. Such demonisation is not unrelated to the dethroning of the mother in psychoanalytic discourse. Why does the mother, after decades of serving her children, suddenly become the peg upon which all of the adult child’s issues are hung? Surely, the mother's influence on psychological and emotional development is immense; she's the one doing most of the work. But what happens to mothers of adult children when “hostility to the mother... [becomes] an index of mental health”? And why are “mothers whose hearts yearn for their children told that they have over-identified with their mothering role”?

Greer's critique of the norms that prioritise a woman's role, time, and body in serving the needs of a man, typically a husband, is not original but still astute. I recognised with joy the contrast she draws when comparing these norms (including where a woman sleeps, who she bonds with, and how she spends her time) with the close-knit women's communities in other cultures- including the one I grew up in. However, I am a little skeptical about the degree to which such models are idealised. There are genuine difficulties in communal living, especially when it involves delicate and potentially competitive or even antagonistic relationships with other women in the family. In the absence of a sexual bond or financial support (monetised gratitude), it becomes more difficult to ease or reconcile such inevitable conflicts ? And isn't the patriarchy still at the center of these relations, constantly shaping and agitating them?

This brings me to the discourse of victimhood, which, while holding much truth, left me a little uneasy. What then does a discourse of victimhood, having high believability potential as it may, do for and to women today? That’s where the book felt like a curse, not only in terms of demanding that we bear the weight of a patriarchal history and present with seething anger, but also in confronting us with a sense of biological injustice of having to navigate the world in a volatile and over-burdened female body. Things we often just get on with - shouldn’t we?

‘The Change' challenges conventional norms, offers empowering perspectives, but also urges us to confront the web of lies and power relations that continue to influence our lives as women.

[Syd · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was really disappointed in this book. Not only is it rather poorly written, it spends very little time on what is actually happening to our bodies from a medical point of view. The history of the horrific experiments that women have been subjected to was the most interesting part, but then a huge part of the book was dedicated to women feeling worthless because of lost sex appeal. I mean, I get that for a lot of women, especially more traditional heterosexual women this would be a difficult thing when the patriarchy has taught her that her sex appeal is the most valuable thing about her, but it was also done in a pretty condescending way. It got boring. I am over supposed feminists being so judgmental of women. It strikes me as the opposite of feminism. I will try another book to try to learn more about this rite of passage.