Colour Me Menopausal is a new activity book for adults that uses humour to educate about the phase of life when a woman's reproductive years comes to an end. Photo: Unsplash
You might have learnt at school that Shakespeare was referring to a non-fatal wound in the play Othello when the character Iago declared "I bleed sir, but not kill'd".
However, in New Zealand author Shirley Serban's recently released activity book on menopause, the quote apparently gives us an insight into the unusual periods women can experience during this phase of life. In a section of Colour Me Menopausal, Serban cleverly flips Shakespeare quotes into meaningful laughs for women experiencing menopause.
"I am withered like an old apple john," from Shakespeare's Henry IV, becomes a descriptor about vaginal dryness, a common and uncomfortable menopause symptom.
A quote from the Taming of the Shrew - "Is she as hot a shrew as she's reported?" - is really about hot flushes that can over take some women at various intervals throughout the day.
Colour Me Menopausal by Shirley Serban. Photo: Supplied
Menopause is a normal part of ageing when a woman's reproductive years come to an end. It is often accompanied by a series of difficult symptoms such as facial hair growth, anxiety, insomnia and many more often unpleasant sensations.
Women have often endured this period in silence and isolation, but in recent years celebrities, journalists and women in general have been increasingly vocal about the impact of menopause on careers, relationships and life. Colour Me Menopausal, published this month by Walter Foster, furthers that conversation by using humour and engaging activities - a menopause-inspired game of snakes and ladders is one of them - to educate and commiserate.
Open conversation about other changes in women's bodies such as periods have moved to what changes older women are experiencing, according to Serban, a humour writer and former school principal from the South Island's west coast.
"Why aren't we doing this for older women as well because this is still something that isn't talked about in the workplace. People lose their jobs because of menopause symptoms, because there's no understanding about that.
"Culturally in New Zealand, there's a big shift going on: well actually this is a part of life and we can cater for these things and not stigmatise them."
Extracted from Color Me Menopausal by Shirley Serban. RRP$23.00. Published by Quarto. Photo: Quarto
The book is part of a series of adult activity books that focus on life stages including Color Me Pregnant and Color Me Retiring. Anna Landa from Group Publisher approached Serban to write the book following Serban's viral song 'Menopause Rhapsody', a parody of Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. The song ran all over the internet in early 2021, coinciding with Landa's own menopause symptoms.
"...I wanted to publish a humorous escape from my symptoms to help women to not see menopause as a negative thing they have to deal with alone."
"There is an emotional freedom that comes with menopause, not to mention the money that I have saved from no longer buying tampons and pads!" added Landa.
New Zealand author Niki Bezzant, who writes extensively about menopause, had a flick through Colour Me Menopausal for RNZ. The humour wasn't exactly her cup of tea and she doesn't want it to add to a developing troupe that "a menopausal woman is someone who is not coping..."
However, "I think more information, more conversation about menopause is absolutely brilliant..." said Bezzant, who has spoken about the burgeoning menopause industry.
Colour Me Menopausal educates through entertainment. In one section, readers are asked to guess the meaning of tricky terms surrounding menopause in the medical lexicon through multiple choice. Is psychoneuroendocrinology the medical term for the greying of eyebrow hairs or the field of research that studies how hormones can impact mental illness? (you could Google it or look up on the answer on page 93 of the book).
Author Shirley Serban. Photo: Supplied
Serban is 47 and considers herself in perimenopause, the lead up to menopause that has similar symptoms while you still get your period. She wasn't aware she had entered that phase until she started research for Colour Me Menopausal and realised she had some of the symptoms. So far, she hasn't found those symptoms too life upending unlike some.
"I really didn't know anything about menopause, except that it affected my mum and she had to fan herself," said Serban, of when her mum carried a paper fan in her purse to counteract hot flashes.
"She'd, just, gasp and sigh and quickly reach into her bag, and, fan furiously, and we thought it was hilarious, but, we probably didn't see her getting up in the night. We probably didn't care about any weight gain or loss or hair loss or anything like that."
"I think [the hot flashes] were the only things she couldn't hide from us kids."
Extract from Color Me Menopausal by Shirley Serban, published by Quarto. RRP$23.00. Photo: Quarto
