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Dare I Say It
Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I'd Known About Menopause | Naomi Watts
7 posts | 3 read | 1 to read
A frank, funny and informative guide to menopause and aging by beloved actress Naomi Watts, one of the leading voices in menopause awarenesswith a foreword by Mary Claire Haver, MD, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The New Menopause At thirty-six, Naomi Watts had just completed filming King Kong and was trying to start a family when she was told that she was on the brink of menopause. It is estimated that seventy-five million women in the United States are currently dealing with menopause symptoms (dry itchy skin, raging hormones, night sweats), and yet the very word menopause continues to be associated with stigma and confusion. With so little information, many women feel unprepared, ashamed, and deeply alone when the time comes. This is the book Naomi Watts wishes she had when she first started experiencing symptoms. Like sitting down over coffee and having an intimate chat with your girlfriend, Dare I Say It blends funny and poignant stories from Naomi and her friends with advice from doctors, hormone experts, and nutritionists to take the secrecy and shame out of menopause and aging. Answering questions such as: Whats hormone therapy and should I be on it? Will I ever sleep again? Will I get myself back? What happened to my libido? Do I need eighteen serums for my aging skin? Whose body is this anyway? Who am I now? Naomi Watts shares the most up-to-date research on how to manage menopause symptoms and tackle the physical and emotional challenges we encounter as we age. Irreverent, bold, and reassuring, Dare I Say It is the companion every woman needs to embrace the best version of herself as she moves into what can be the most powerful and satisfying period of her life.
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review
Robotswithpersonality
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Mehso-so

Definitely a mixed bag.
Insofar as I picked it up as the first book I'll be reading about menopause, it worked to start blunting the fangs of the nebulous fears I harbour about what may start in the next decade of my life.
I think if you look at it as half memoir, half helpful advice/anecdotes about menopause and being a woman in middle age, it works better than considering it purely a how-to resource. 1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/? Watts sharing her own experiences and those of friends, as well as the words of various doctors known to specialize in menopause makes it quite readable, approachable. It feels like a flawed starter kit, an introductory text with a few sections I'm less on board with.
I appreciate that Watts doesn't attempt to over-apply her own experience, recognizing the breadth of experiences different people
3w
Robotswithpersonality 3/? have during peri-menopause and menopause, that she does acknowledge the price range of various treatments, what may or may not be covered by insurance, and the deplorable state of the medical system in the U.S, but this is very much a text that reflects the mindset of a cis, white woman of a certain income bracket. There is, I believe one statistic about how people of colour's experience of menopause will differ and one about how they are 3w
Robotswithpersonality 4/? treated by the medical system. There is no language that acknowledges the spectrum of gender identity, how those who identify as other than cis women who have a uterus, ovaries, vagina, vulva might experience this change and how their process of seeking treatment to alleviate symptoms might differ. One of the doctor's cited repeatedly, Carol Tavris, I believe has been noted as producing anti-trans, TERF statements. 3w
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Robotswithpersonality 5/? The section on nutrition, which I would advise anybody with a previous history of ED to skip, mentions weight-loss drugs, and beyond my aversion to their existence in general there is one brand that, thanks to the Maintenance Phase podcast, I would never consider. Watts is careful not to advocate for it, mentions she hasn't used it herself though friends have, to varying degrees of success or abuse, but is citing a doctor who's 3w
Robotswithpersonality 6/? comfortable with making it part of a weight loss plan. Similarly, Watts is okay with Botox and plastic surgery being part of the discussion about how women feel about looking as they age, I suppose in a broad-minded discussion of women's choices, it should be among the options, but I wonder how much internalized misogyny, the need, that she does acknowledge may be part of Hollywood's influence, to stay looking a certain way, 3w
Robotswithpersonality 7/? youthful, sexy, factors in to the decision to include more drastic aesthetic options. And then there's the part where she's got a line of products marketed to menopausal women, the development of the company being kind of its own chapter. I'm glad she's part of a movement not to stay silent about what she acknowledged many women feel shame about, but there's a lot in this book that makes me feel like 3w
Robotswithpersonality 8/? a) she's got a particular angle, a stake in the game , as it were and b) that there are many excluded based on the way she talks about her experience.
It may be too much to put on this book to expect a career actress with a beauty line to go in depth on the alluded to medical risks of various options, the breadth of experiences that various people will have.
3w
Robotswithpersonality 9/9 I can be glad this book has made me eager to dive more into the subject, and use the bibliography she offers at the end of the books as a starting point to further reading.

⚠️discussions of internalized misogyny around traditional gender roles(women's value as a mother), the beauty standards that emphasize looking young and sexy, infertility, miscarriage
3w
7 likes8 comments
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Robotswithpersonality
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Find. 👏🏻 A. 👏🏻 New. 👏🏻 Doctor. 👏🏻

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Robotswithpersonality
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“Swoon.“ 😆
“We were in it together, this aging thing.“ 💕

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Robotswithpersonality
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*Snrk* And the prize for best pun in a chapter title goes to... 🏆😆

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Melismatic
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Pickpick

Soft pick. I enjoy Naomi‘s charm & humor but I found this to be lacking on much of the research I was expecting. This was a solid overview - but doesn‘t offer much in terms of nitty gritty regarding menopause.

It does offer a fab new idiom though: “must-erbation”. Feeling like you “must” do things even when over extended.

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Melismatic
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My #Feminist perspective results. 💪🏻💖 Thanks for the link @Catsandbooks ! #riseupreads

Catsandbooks 👏🏼🎉✊🏼🔥❤️ 5mo
26 likes1 comment
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Melismatic
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Spied a whole table of signed copies of my current audiobook read. I‘m enjoying it so far - it‘s the perfect blend of serious medical insight with personal experience.

As an almost-38 year old, I‘ve been noticing odd symptoms that lend itself to perimenopause over the last few years. Definitely think this book provides a more general introduction of what to expect. 😵‍💫