menopause Susan Merrill Squier and Ian Williams, General Editors editorial collective MK Czerwiec (GraphicMedicine.org) Michael J. Green (Penn State College of Medicine) Kimberly R. Myers (Penn State College of Medicine) Scott T. Smith (Penn State University)

Books in the Graphic Medicine Other titles in the series: series are inspired by a growing MK Czerwiec, Ian Williams, Susan Olivier Kugler, Escaping Wars and awareness of the value of comics Merrill Squier, Michael J. Green, Waves: Encounters with Syrian Refugees Kimberly R. Myers, and Scott T. Judith Margolis, Life Support: as an important resource for Smith, Graphic Medicine Manifesto Invitation to Prayer communicating about a range of Ian Williams, The Bad Doctor: The Ian Williams, The Lady Doctor issues broadly termed “medical.” For Troubled Life and Times of Dr. Iwan James Sarah Lightman, The Book of Sarah healthcare practitioners, patients, Peter Dunlap-Shohl, My Degeneration: families, and caregivers dealing A Journey Through Parkinson’s Benjamin Dix and Lindsay Pollock, Vanni: A Family’s Struggle through Aneurin Wright, Things to Do in a with illness and disability, graphic the Sri Lankan Conflict Retirement Home Trailer Park: . . . narrative enlightens complicated or When You’re 29 and Unemployed Ephameron, Us Two Together difficult experience. For scholars in Dana Walrath, Aliceheimers: Alzheimer’s Scott T. Smith and José Alaniz, literary, cultural, and comics studies, Through the Looking Glass eds., Uncanny Bodies: Superhero the genre articulates a complex and Lorenzo Servitje and Sherryl Vint, Comics and Disability powerful analysis of illness, medicine, eds., The Walking Med: Zombies Susan Merrill Squier and Irmela and the Medical Image Marei Krüger-Fürhoff, eds., and disability and a rethinking of the Henny Beaumont, Hole in the PathoGraphics: Narrative, Aesthetics, boundaries of “health.” The series Heart: Bringing Up Beth Contention, Community includes original comics from artists Swann Meralli and Deloupy, MK Czerwiec, Taking Turns: Stories and non-artists alike, such as self- from HIV/AIDS Care Unit 371 Algériennes: The Forgotten Women of the Algerian Revolution reflective “graphic pathographies” or Paula Knight, The Facts of Life Aurélien Ducoudray and Jeff comics used in medical training and Gareth Brookes, A Thousand Pourquié, The Third Population education, as well as monographic Coloured Castles studies and edited collections from Jenell Johnson, ed., Graphic scholars, practitioners, and medical Reproduction: A Comics Anthology educators. Edited by MK Czerwiec The Pennsylvania State University Press University Park, Pennsylvania menopause a comic treatment Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The contributors to Menopause: A Comic Treatment retain copyright to their works in the volume, which appear here by Names: Czerwiec, MK (MaryKay), 1967– editor. permission. Teva Harrison’s “The Big Change” is reproduced Title: Menopause : a comic treatment / edited by MK here with permission from House of Anansi. Further reproduc- Czerwiec. tion is prohibited. Other titles: Menopause (Czerwiec) | Graphic medicine. Description: University Park, Pennsylvania : The Pennsylvania Copyright © 2020 The Pennsylvania State University State University Press, [2020] | Series: Graphic medicine | All rights reserved Includes bibliographical references. Printed in Lithuania Summary: “A collection of comics presenting diverse views Published by The Pennsylvania State University Press, of menopause. Contributors address a range of life expe- University Park, PA 16802-1003 riences, ages, gender identities, ethnicities, and health conditions”—Provided by publisher. The Pennsylvania State University Press is a member of the Identifiers: LCCN 2019056966 | ISBN 9780271087122 (hard- Association of University Presses. back ; alk. paper) Subjects: MESH: Menopause—psychology | Graphic Novel It is the policy of The Pennsylvania State University Press to Classification: LCC RG186 | NLM WP 17 | DDC use acid-free paper. Publications on uncoated stock satisfy 618.1/750651—dc23 the minimum requirements of American National Standard LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019056966 for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Material, ansi z39.48–1992. contents

vii Acknowledgments 47 My Menopause Story Sharon Rosenzweig 1 Introduction MK Czerwiec 49 “Are You Sexually Active?”: Vaginal Truth Telling 5 Menopause Joyce Schachter and Jessica Moran Maureen Burdock 50 Invisible Lady 11 Menopositive! 52 The End, for Now 17 #crockpotrunner Ann M. Fox 58 A Slow Intermittent Leak 26 When My Biological Clock Stopped Ticking Monica Lalanda 64 2.14 am–4.43 am: Let Me Introduce Myself 32 Burning Up Nicola Streeten Comic Nurse (MK Czerwiec) 66 Any Day Now 36 Desertification Ajuan Mance A. K. Summers 74 Cycles 39 Zen and the Art of Menopausal KC Councilor Maintenance Leslie Ewing 78 An End Is Not the End Leah Jones and Cathy Leamy 44 Climacteric Calamity Rachael House 82 Ready, Set, “Pause” Dana Walrath Joyce Farmer Resources Contributors of List (A) Men-O-Pause (A) Antique Restoration Antique 112 124 129 131 Carnival Comes to Town Comes Carnival Kimiko Tobimatsu and Keet Geniza and Keet Kimiko Tobimatsu and Shelley L. Wall Susan Merrill Squier Emily Steinberg Teva Harrison Teva Surgical Menopause—in Ten Postures Ten Menopause—in Surgical Menopause the When KimikoMenopause Does The Big Change Big The 91 83 84 Paused 96 90

 contents vi acknowledgments

This is the first anthology I’ve edited, and supporting this project from my first and it’s been a learning experience. Edit- mention of it; to Nicola Streeten for addi- ing an anthology is something that, in the tional resources and encouragement (and for idea stage, feels very straightforward, but being Nicola); to Judith A. Houck for histor- in execution it isn’t. Thank you to each of ical background on the treatment of women the artists in this volume for their willing- during perimenopause; to Peggy Mason for ness, timeliness, enthusiasm, patience, and information on the neurology of menopause; encouragement. to Mita Mahato and Sarah Leavitt for always Thank you to Susan Squier for advice, having my back; to our amazing worldwide insight, editing, and role modeling; to Graphic Medicine community who inspire Ann Fox for her great mind and generous me every day; and to my wife Cindy, once spirit; to Kendra Boileau for believing in again, for everything. introduction MK Czerwiec

My mother died when she was ninety-three It didn’t matter, because it was all happening years old, in October of my forty-ninth year. at once. It became impossible to separate the Her older sister died in March of my fifti- symptoms of grieving from the symptoms eth year. Caring for the two of them had of perimenopause, the emotional from the consumed much of my time, and my identity, hormonal. I felt like I was being pulled into a for the preceding decade. Once they were dark abyss. both gone, the way my life suddenly changed I also felt woefully unprepared for all of was disorienting. Because I had also helped this. care for my disabled father and had worked Eventually, I did what I have done in as a nurse, much of my life had revolved previous challenging times of my life: I around caregiving responsibilities. But after turned to popular culture. More specifically, the death of my mother and my aunt, and for I turned to comics. Unfortunately, the comics the first time since I was seventeen years old, I could find about menopause were not very no person was looking to me for care. No one helpful, and sometimes they were even hurt- needed my help with checkbooks, groceries, ful. Most of them were either single-panel dressing, errands, house maintenance, the jokes about hot flashes or expressions of this bathroom. No more weekly anxious morning or that symptom of perimenopause as an drives to the western suburbs of Chicago or inconvenience to a husband or a male part- exhausted, late-night drives home. No more ner. Instead of feeling seen and empowered, desperate phone calls between visits requir- I felt further isolated and belittled. ing me to vacate my life to salvage theirs. The first (and only, as far as I can tell) Then, in April of my fiftieth year, hot book-length collection of comics about flashes arrived—and with them came weight menopause seems to have appeared in 1950 gain, palpitations, sudden bouts of sadness, and was titled Minnie Pauses to Reflect, by fatigue, bloating, unexplained agitation, swol- Nora Preddy. The dedication of Preddy’s len feet, food cravings, random anxiety, and forty-panel collection of single-page comics tingling hands. Which was more disorienting, sets the tone for the work. It reads, “To my my elder-care empty nest or this cascade of husband for his patience with me in mine.” symptoms that culminated with my bursting The women in Minnie Pauses are into a profuse sweat every fifteen minutes? frequently portrayed as judging one another through menopause, or who have already been through it, to make comics about their experiences and about how they coped. This book collects those responses. The comics in this collection represent a range of life expe- riences, professions, ages, gender and sexual identities, ethnicities, and health states. I feel deep gratitude not only for the wonderful comics in this collection but also for what the contributors shared about what they gained from making these comics. For some, these are the first comics they have made. Others, who have been making comics introduction for years reported that this one was differ- ent. Many expressed being changed by the process, as their understanding of meno- pause was deepened by the experience of drawing about it. for inappropriate management of symp- Managing this time of our lives takes toms (not seeking surgery or taking hormone a team. We feel as though we go through 2 medications, eating or drinking excessively). menopause alone, but that’s only true if we Most of the comics demonstrate how incon- allow it to be. Constantly struggling to pull venient perimenopausal women are for just ourselves out of torpor, stiffness, and ache about everyone around them, particularly the is not easy work. We need to be supportive MK Czerwiec men in their lives. of one another and of ourselves. I was fortu- A new collection of comics was needed— nate enough to find an older therapist, who one that shared stories that might actually has the vitality of a woman who has survived be helpful, stories that encourage those of menopause, and a young athletic trainer, us facing the symptoms of perimenopause who has the advantage of not really knowing to find our voices rather than remain silent, that any of it is coming. After I established to invite us into strength rather than push a support system, more life change required us further into shame. Thanks to the incredi- that I move two states away. In doing this I ble energy of the growing Graphic Medicine realized the importance (and fragile nature) community, the people who were perfectly of my new support system. My period suited to create this new collection of comics returned after a five-month hiatus, as did the about menopause were a visit to social fatigue, grief, food cravings, seeking comfort media, a website, or an email away. in drinking—all of it—and I felt alone. Again. I asked my comics idols and cherished I’m now remembering what helps and what colleagues to help me out. I asked power- doesn’t, and finding the will to reach out. ful and inspiring role models who are going Again. We need to help one another brainstorm understanding of our own bodies and what effective strategies for coping with meno- they are doing. pause, knowing that there will be many We can benefit greatly from teaching different paths, many ups and downs. The and learning truths about our bodies, such comics in this collection testify to the impor- as how menopause works for a range of indi- tance of sharing our stories. My hope is viduals and how we can find ways to adapt. that the work that appears in this collection What better medium than comics to do this can begin to offer a community of support. important work? Comics have a long history While it may be comforting to find humor in of taking on stigmatized topics. They make the absurdity of some of our symptoms, it’s literal the metaphors we use to describe our important to remember that menopause itself bodies, and they can be playful and enjoy- isn’t a joke. Comparing stories—and break- able, even if the topic they tackle is not. Most ing the silence around menopause—in ways of all, comics give us a sense of community. that make us feel safe, valued, and empow- The work that Graphic Medicine does so ered is important. It’s freeing, and feeling well is crucial because it pulls the focus away free makes challenging things easier, giving from what one person (you, or I) needs to do us the communal space in which to find our to manage menopause. Rather than making introduction own styles for living through the challenges it a problem of the individual (as in Pred- of perimenopause. I hope this book of comics dy’s comics), Graphic Medicine allows us to will be conducive to finding and embracing focus on understanding how the knowledge one’s own style, the way artists must do for we gain as a collective, and the options this 3 their work. opens for us, can move us from isolation to My artistic and academic work has been community, from problem to poetic genius. informed and deepened by perspectives When my mother was descending into arising from the disability rights move- the dementia that dominated her last few ment, particularly by the idea of adaptation, years, her parting words to me were always, which asks: How do we adapt to the bodies “Take care of yourself.” Though I appreciated we find ourselves in? How must our adap- her thoughtfulness, I also wondered what MK Czerwiec tations change with our bodies over time? message she was actually trying to send me. Portrait artist and disability rights activist Was it some kind of warning arising from her Riva Lehrer writes in her August 2017 New life regrets? Her advice also frustrated me. I York Times op-ed piece, “Where All Bodies had heard the same words as a nurse—that Are Exquisite,” that “the magical thing to survive prioritizing the needs of others about bodies [is that] they respond to the over our own needs, we should “take care of unexpected with their own forms of poetic ourselves.” But what does this really mean? genius.” The symptoms of approaching Get manicures and occasional massages? menopause feel unexpected and unpre- Buy a fancy new pair of shoes now and then? dictable. Most of us aren’t told about the Have a glass or three of wine every night? complexities of what is coming. We are left (There is constant messaging around us to searching for a trail of clues leading to an self-soothe with alcohol. For an eye-opening examination of this phenomenon, see Drink: can I revise my life’s role models away from The Intimate Relationship Between Women women who perhaps felt their only option for and Alcohol by Ann Dowsett Johnston.) Too survival was to give themselves away, or to many of us are forced to resort to quick ways judge their own and others’ failures, toward of numbing ourselves because that is the people who know their worth, possess their easiest thing to do, and we don’t have the own power, and support one another? time or energy for more than what we are These comics are, I hope, a strong push already doing. in that direction. There are more to be made. How can we instead invite ourselves to Consider picking up a pen and trying one. respond to menopause with poetic genius? Now that’s taking care of yourself. How can we respond with style? How can I adapt the way I have tried to generously love others in my life to how I love myself? How introduction

4 MK Czerwiec Menopause Maureen Burdock Menopause

5 Maureen Burdock Menopause 6 Maureen Burdock Maureen Burdock 7 Menopause Menopause 8 Maureen Burdock Maureen Burdock 9 Menopause Menopause 10 Maureen Burdock Menopositive! Lynda Barry Menopositive!

11 Lynda Barry Lynda Menopositive! 12 Lynda Barry 13 Lynda Barry Menopositive!