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Holy Menopause
Or, how I grew my (our) superpowers
As the 100,000-odd readers of this page know, I occasionally invite writers from various backgrounds to contribute essays and excerpts drawn from their published work. This week’s essay comes from Bunny Gonopolskaya, author of the new graphic novel Holy Menopause.
Did I say that out loud, or just to myself? Is my resume really shorter than his? OMG, I’m going to melt during that presentation!!
These are the thoughts that had never swirled through my head until I reached middle age. Middle! Not Old! Not Decrepit or Incapable! Just have lived a few decades more than my ingenue self.
And yet I started to see for myself what I’d heard from others — no longer interesting, actually invisible. Work opportunities became surprisingly sparse despite the greater depth of experience. My opinion became less credible until seconded by someone — unsurprisingly younger, often male.
That’s the superpower of a mature woman. Saying F. U. to boundaries. Those are only internal — and if they are in others’ minds, no reason to let them curb us.
For a while I thought it was all in my head — not a new thought for women across the ages, I’ve learned…
