CRUEL intentions

MICHELE A’COURT TELLS WHY SHE’S HAPPY IN HER SKIN, EVEN IF SOME THINK SHE SHOULD NOT BE

Hag. Crone. Old trout. This International Women’s Day, these are some of the words I would like – on behalf of women of a certain age – to reclaim.

I mean, some of you might not be up for it. It’s possible not everyone is relaxed about being an old chook. Certainly, we’re supposed to be offended by being reminded of our age – dismissed for being no longer useful in reproductive terms, our attractiveness therefore entirely diminished. The implication being that if we’re post-childbearing potential, what is the point of us?

Yet I find, as the years go by, there’s even more point in being me. Perhaps it’s because my reproductive system (I won’t go into too much detail because I don’t know if you’re reading this while eating) was functionally a bit of a disaster and made me regularly unwell, to the point where I had everything but one ovary whipped out many years ago. Consequently, the whole menopause thing has been less about grief and more about liberation. So if anyone wants to take a shot at me for being beyond reproductive use, those arrows don’t pierce.

Have a crack, they do, though. I don’t know if you’re on Twitter (if not, don’t take this as encouragement to join), but as well as being a useful news source and an opportunity for creating a community of friends, it is also a place where all-comers can leap in and, in 280 characters or less, try to ruin your day.