Portraits of menopause in the mass media

This examination of menopause as presented by the popular print media was conducted in the context of furthering our understanding of the development of attitudes toward menopause. All articles indexed under "menopause" in the Reader's Guide in the years 1981, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1993, and 1994 were located and examined. The data revealed that, although there has been an increase in the frequency of articles on menopause in the last 15 years, the media's portrayal of menopause is problematic in several respects: (a) in spite of the increased attention, the information available on menopause through the popular media is minimal and insufficient; (b) there was little variability in terms of perspective, discipline, or focus; almost all were focused on menopause as a negative experience or disease and in need of medical treatment; (c) there was considerable contradiction and inconsistency among the articles with respect to descriptions of menopause and intervention advice for menopausal women; (d) aging, stress, life-style factors, race and ethnicity, exercise and diet were, with few exceptions, ignored or trivialized.