What the study found
The study found that existing menopause knowledge is limited by a biomedical focus and by assumptions that the typical menopausal person is a cisgender, heterosexual, middle-aged woman. LGBTQ+ participants in the U.K. often negotiated this knowledge critically and selectively, and many created or shared their own forms of knowledge to make menopause more useful and affirming.
Why the authors say this matters
The authors argue that menopause should be reimagined by centering marginalized experiences, not only to fill a research gap but as a starting point for a more multidimensional, nuanced, bio-psycho-social understanding of menopause. The study suggests that this could challenge the limits of biomedicalised menopause knowledge.
What the researchers tested
The article applies and develops sociological ideas about expert and lay knowledge, ignorance, and biomedicalisation through a queer feminist lens. It draws on interviews or accounts from 16 LGBTQ+ participants in the U.K. and also discusses the use of creative research methods such as body mapping, a visual method for representing experiences through the body.
What worked and what didn't
Participants often worked with both biomedical and popular menopause knowledge, but they did so critically rather than accepting it as complete. What did not work well was the narrowness of existing knowledge, especially where it failed to address the specificities of LGBTQ+ experiences; participants responded by making their own knowledge and found body mapping helpful for processing and reimagining their experiences.
What to keep in mind
The abstract focuses on 16 LGBTQ+ participants in the U.K., so the findings are limited to that group and context. The summary provided does not describe other limitations in detail.
Key points
- Existing menopause knowledge is described as limited by biomedical assumptions and a cisgender, heterosexual prototype.
- Sixteen LGBTQ+ participants in the U.K. navigated menopause knowledge critically and selectively.
- Participants expressed frustration with knowledge that did not fit LGBTQ+ experiences.
- Some participants created, shared, and sourced their own menopause knowledge.
- Creative methods such as body mapping were described as helpful for understanding menopause experiences.
Disclosure
- Research title:
- LGBTQ+ participants reworked menopause knowledge beyond biomedical limits
- Authors:
- Rebecca Ann Simmons
- Institutions:
- University of Leeds
- Publication date:
- 2026-07-01
- OpenAlex record:
- View
- Image credit:
- Candy Sotomayor, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
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