Analysis of Menopause and its Effects

Menopause is a genuine biological process experienced universally by women although the exact purposes of its occurrence and function are still up for debate. Being unique as only occurring to females of just two species among the countless thousands that exist on the planet, the biological process is fascinating as it is dangerous. Numerous theories have been proposed to account for the occurrence of menopause within women however a majority of societies and cultures view the occurrence of menopause through a framework of disdain, resentment, anger and even fear. Despite having biological origins, menopause including the public expressions of the women going through it as well as the majority of the research conducted on it seem to be almost entirely socially constructed. Furthermore, menopause is typically cast, both societally and culturally in a negative light because of its implications of the ending reproductive processes in women which implies that society/culture seems to place a higher value on fertility and reproduction. If this is true, it would serve to illustrate why so many societies are tipped in favor of male dominance as males do not undergo menopause as they can continually reproduce throughout most, if not all, of their entire life span thus males are valued higher than women assuming society is assigning value using a reproductive standard.
The biological purpose of menopause has long been up for debate among scholars. From a purely intuitive biological standpoint, the act of terminating a female’s ability to reproduce seems to hobble that species’ very survival as now reproduction can only occur during a specified window in which a female has the willingness and the ability to reproduce. Essentially, menopause can be viewed as a “ticking’ clock” on reproductive success of a particular individual which in turn can affect the reproductive success of that individual’s species as a whole. From a more academic standpoint, according to “current