Years of Change
A cultural history of menopause

a film by Sabine Jainski and Ilona Kalmbach
45 min.
arte / WDR 2004

Menopause is not an illness - although cosmetic and pharmaceutic industries like to tell you so. Traveling back into history as well as into Southern European, African and Japanese traditions, the documentary shows that the perspective on those years of change depends on your cultural point of view. We can see how Japanese women in their 50s suddenly get medicalized by taking over Western medicine and eating habits: the word "hot flush" is a neologism in Japanese while the normal symptom for both sexes would be "stiff shoulders".

Artists like photographer Ute Karen Seggelke and Annegret Soltau create a different view on the vital, self-confident and selfdetermined women over 50 today, and the "Missfits" show how much fun menopause can be.