A lesbian feminist analysis of the demise of hormone replacement therapy

Abstract

For many years, radical feminists have been warning about the dangers inherent in the use of Hormone Replacement Therapy. Until the release of the Women's Health Initiative results in 2002, these warnings were dismissed and discredited. In this article I summarise these recent debates. In addition, I also draw upon findings from my doctoral research, the first study in Australia to examine lesbians' experiences of menopause, to highlight how lesbian voices and radical feminist analyses of the medicalisation of midlife are overlooked and dismissed. For the purpose of this article, I restrict my critique to the issue of Hormone Replacement Therapy. Throughout this article I challenge negative, stereotypical views of lesbians at menopause and suggest that listening to lesbians adds a new dimension to the presently narrow, heterosexist and medicalised view of women at midlife.