Experiences of menopause among non-binary and trans people

Michael Toze; Sue Westwood

doi:10.1080/26895269.2024.2389924

Experiences of menopause among non-binary and trans people

Michael Toze^*, Sue Westwood

^*Corresponding author for this work

York Law School

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Conventional categorisations of menopause can be difficult to apply to trans, gender non-conforming and non-binary (TGNB) populations. Menopause has biological, psychological and social meanings that may be hard to clearly apply within a context of diverse experiences of sex and gender. Nonetheless, some TGNB people do experience menopause, and their experiences may be different to those of other groups due to those diverse biopsychosocial understandings and experiences. This paper thematically analyses the responses of 15 TGNB respondents who responded to a larger survey about LGBTQ+ experiences of the menopause. Two key themes were identified: Menopause and embodied identities, and Navigating gender normativity and gender binarism. The first of these contains two sub-themes, shifting and (un)settled gender identities, and embodied dis/connections with femaleness.These findings appear to be comparatively novel within the published academic literature, but potentially have some parallels with prior observations regarding interactions between puberty and gender identity, and also regarding TGNB people’s experiences of challenges in navigating other health and life experiences normatively understood as female. These explorations raise a number of potentially sensitive questions, given current debate and controversies around gender, sex and identity. Nonetheless, they point to a need for further research and practice into menopause that is inclusive and supportive of a range of gender and sexual identities.

Original language	English
Number of pages	12
Journal	International Journal of Transgender Health
Early online date	10 Aug 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/26895269.2024.2389924
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 10 Aug 2024

Bibliographical note

This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the University’s Research Publications and Open Access policy.

Access to Document

10.1080/26895269.2024.2389924Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Toze and Westwood 2024Final published version, 1.28 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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title = "Experiences of menopause among non-binary and trans people",

abstract = "Conventional categorisations of menopause can be difficult to apply to trans, gender non-conforming and non-binary (TGNB) populations. Menopause has biological, psychological and social meanings that may be hard to clearly apply within a context of diverse experiences of sex and gender. Nonetheless, some TGNB people do experience menopause, and their experiences may be different to those of other groups due to those diverse biopsychosocial understandings and experiences. This paper thematically analyses the responses of 15 TGNB respondents who responded to a larger survey about LGBTQ+ experiences of the menopause. Two key themes were identified: Menopause and embodied identities, and Navigating gender normativity and gender binarism. The first of these contains two sub-themes, shifting and (un)settled gender identities, and embodied dis/connections with femaleness.These findings appear to be comparatively novel within the published academic literature, but potentially have some parallels with prior observations regarding interactions between puberty and gender identity, and also regarding TGNB people{\textquoteright}s experiences of challenges in navigating other health and life experiences normatively understood as female. These explorations raise a number of potentially sensitive questions, given current debate and controversies around gender, sex and identity. Nonetheless, they point to a need for further research and practice into menopause that is inclusive and supportive of a range of gender and sexual identities.",

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