\n<\/p>\n
Emma Barnett has said experiencing perimenopause at the age of 38 felt as if she had been \u201cmugged, robbed\u201d of her identity.<\/p>\n
The broadcaster, now 40, said on her new BBC podcast, Ready to Talk with Emma Barnett, that it was the \u201cfirst time in my life I haven\u2019t really wanted to be a woman \u2013 it\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve thought, I\u2019d really quite like to be a bloke\u201d.<\/p>\n
She said perimenopause made her feel as though she had lost her identity, and that she was still waiting to \u201ccome back\u201d to who she was before.<\/p>\n
Speaking to guest Kate Thornton, she said: \u201cI do feel there has been a theft. I do feel there\u2019s no emergency number to call. \u2018I\u2019d like to report a crime. Yeah, someone stole me.\u2019 There is no one to report this to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Concluding the episode, Barnett said she hoped \u201cthe normalisation \u2013 which we both said needs to happen around perimenopause and this degradation of one\u2019s hormones that happens from \u2026 the age of 30s right through in women \u2013 can move into common parlance\u201d.<\/p>\n
Perimenopause is the transitional period leading up to menopause, where ovaries gradually produce less oestrogen, causing symptoms such as irregular periods and hot flushes, while menopause is the definitive point after periods have stopped for 12 consecutive months.<\/p>\n
Conversations and awareness about menopause and perimenopause have increased significantly in recent years, in part thanks to the work of high-profile figures, such as the broadcaster Davina McCall and the comedian Bridget Christie.<\/p>\n
But the increased knowledge has been coupled with what health experts have called a \u201cmenopause gold rush\u201d, as companies, celebrities and influencers take advantage of a \u201cdearth\u201d of reliable information on the issue.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s health academics at University College London have said healthcare companies and content creators viewed menopause as a \u201clucrative market\u201d and were trying to profit from gaps in public understanding.<\/p>\n
Researchers have called for the rollout of a national education programme after finding a significant number of women do not feel well-informed about menopause.<\/p>\n
Writing in the medical journal Post Reproductive Health, they said: \u201cThere has been a rapid expansion in unregulated private companies and individuals providing menopause information and support for profit; this has been termed the \u2018menopause gold rush\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Emma Barnett has said experiencing perimenopause at the age of 38 felt as if she had been \u201cmugged, robbed\u201d of her identity. The broadcaster, now 40, said on her new BBC podcast, Ready to Talk with Emma Barnett, that it was the \u201cfirst time in my life I haven\u2019t really wanted to be a woman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[18760,6034,3735,5824,18761,5823,18545],"class_list":{"0":"post-32519","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-barnett","9":"tag-emma","10":"tag-felt","11":"tag-menopause","12":"tag-mugged","13":"tag-perimenopause","14":"tag-robbed"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}