Menopause gets funny, furious, and deeply honest, sometimes all in the same sentence.

Dr. Sally Chivers talks with poet and professor Susan Holbrook about Steamy: A Menopause Symptomology, her raucous feminist book organized not by chapters, but by symptoms. Hot flashes. Burning mouth syndrome. Bladder leaks. Brain fog. The things you Google at 3 a.m., but rarely speak out loud.

The conversation brings comedy and compassion to fertility grief, gendered shame, and medical language. We swap stories about women’s health, fanning ourselves in too-hot meeting rooms, and the joy that comes from giving “fewer shits.”

If you've ever caught yourself wondering, "Is it just me?" or tried to understand friends, partners, colleagues, and family members, you'll be in good company here.

Episode 18 also includes music by folk_acoustic via Pixabay

Wrinkle Radio is a proud member of the Amplify Podcast Network. We are grateful for funding from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada and support from Aging in Data and VoicEd Radio.

Intro and interlude music by Duce Williams and Jamison Dewlen (via Artlist). Outro music by Michael Shayne (via Artlist).