Women in Oaxaca, Mexico face the same challenges as other women in the world. What differs for them than the women in our country are the deep rooted cultural beliefs that are imposed upon them. The information relayed to them is persuasive and almost to the point of misleading with regards to menopause. HRT is the recommeded treatment for most women but the reason for its use differs than what American women hear. The doctors there tell the women that if they don't use HRT their marriages will dissolve. The majority of the town of Oaxaca are uneducated working class women whose families are their pride and joy. At a seminar regarding menopause and HRT women heard that men will start straying from their marriage if menopause and the effects of it cause any decrease in their sexual relationship. This is a synopsis of the information relayed, "Therefore, it is up
to the woman, to remain sexually
available and interested
to maintain the
integrity of not
only her relationship with her husband,
but her entire
family. The message
reiterated several times in
this seminar was that HRT could prevent the
potential dissolution of
the culturally prized nuclear family" (Ramirez 2006). In their local newspaper this warning was found regarding menopause, "a special report by one of the state medical associations
about the 'Specialized Manufacturing
heterosexuality Treatment for Menopausal
Problems' indicated that
it is important
for medicine to
have a holistic perspective
with regard to
menopause because it
affects not only
the health of the woman but
the health and
well being of
her family" (Ramirez 2006). This country is a devout Catholic nation. As a Catholic I can speak with certainty that women there take their role of mother as a God given task. The threat of losing her husband and breaking up her family would cause any woman there to take notice. Interestingly in Mexico women as a whole do not suffer the same Western types of symptoms, like hot flashes, and mood swings.
In our society we are taught to expect these bodily changes. We, however, are not threatened with our families breaking up and our husbands leaving the marriage to satisfy their sexual needs because of menopause.
Work cited:
Ramirez, Michelle. (Nov-Dec 2006). "Manufacturing Heterosexuality: Hormone Replacement Therapy and Menopause in Urban Oaxaca."
Culture, Health & Sexuality, Vol. 8, No. 6. pp. 545-558. Retrieved from: <http://www.jstor.org/stable/4005564>.
