The « change » and the ages of life: the asymmetry between the sexes in medical discourse surrounding the menopause in France (1770-1836)

Abstract

The origins of the medical construction of the menopause are examined here, making complementary use of approaches borrowed from the social history of knowledge. The first question concerns the variety of terms used to designate “cessation of the menses”. These developments must be viewed in relation to the new scales of human life that were being elaborated over the period. Did this signal the first emergence of a gendering of the ages of life? Does the French expression âge de retour refer to an age that is specific to women, as certain authors suggest? The medicalization of the menopause can thus be placed in perspective, before looking more closely at the key moments of its construction over the period in question (1770-1836). Last, a final section questions the existence of a discourse on a masculine âge de retour and analyses the creation of gender asymmetries in the hygienist recommendations targeting men and women in their forties and fifties.