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(Courtesy of Kwaneta Harris)

By Kwaneta Harris | Speaking from a Texas prison, journalist Kwaneta Harris reveals how menopause is neglected and punished for those living under state control.

“You know what menopause looks like for most folks? Maybe some hot flashes at work, some joint pain and mood swings. Perhaps you adjust your thermostat frequently or get hormone therapy from your doctor.

“Now let me tell you what menopause looks like under state control. Imagine having a hot flash in a non air-conditioned cell with a recorded temperature of 119 degrees. The guards won’t let you have ice water. You’re bleeding through your state-issued white uniform because you had to beg an 18-year-old man-child for a pad this morning, and he said, ‘Maybe later.’ You get exactly five tampons a month, along with a handful of pads, if you’re lucky. Your hormones are all over the place, but there’s no hormone replacement therapy. Just Tylenol—if the guards remember.

“And here’s the kicker: They write you up for having an ‘attitude problem’ when you’re actually having hormone-induced mood swings from perimenopause. Those write-ups? They keep you from getting parole. So now you’re not just dealing with your biology changing, you’re trapped here longer because your biology is being criminalized.”

(This essay is part of the latest Women & Democracy installment, published in the middle of Black History Month, in partnership with Black Girls’ Guide to Surviving Menopause. Menopause is not only a physical transition—it is also cultural, social and political. Recognizing its full scope is essential to advancing true health and civic equity.)

(Click here to read more)

(Stephen Lam / San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

By Nicole Guidotti-Hernández | Like a 19th-century sugar cane plantation brought to life, Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show staged a visually rich jíbaro vision of Puerto Rico—the foundational cultural figure representing the island’s self-sufficient, hardworking mountain farmers—in Santa Clara, Calif., a region long shaped by Spanish colonization and U.S. expansion, on land where Ohlone (specifically Tamien/Tamyen) people lived alongside coastal Miwuk, Patwin and Yokut communities.

The show’s imagery underscored layered histories of colonization and empire that resonated beyond the stadium.

A love letter to Puerto Rico, its diaspora and Latino people across the globe, the performance suggested that love was indeed stronger than hate, as millions danced to the sounds of freedom, whether they recognized it or not.

(Click here to read more)

Menopause, and the discussions swirling around it, is having a moment—many say, fueling a movement. Celebrities have gone public. A commercial marketplace is booming. State legislatures have passed a sweeping range of reforms over the last year.

Black Girls’ Guide to Surviving Menopause (BGGSM) and Ms. know that there is more to movement building than spicy headlines and star power. With this installment of Women & Democracy, and in honor of Black History Month, we are teaming up to flip the menopause script. This much we know: When a societal shift happens rapidly, and is so deliberately defined and delineated, it is imperative to interrogate who benefits and who stands to be left behind.

This series proudly uplifts seven years of narrative and cultural shifts in reproductive justice work focused on menopause, as presented by the Black Girl’s Guide to Surviving Menopause. It also commemorates “Iranti Ẹ̀jẹ̀: Remembering Blood”—a pioneering intergenerational gathering that took place in October 2025 in Durham, N.C., aimed at centering the voices of marginalized menopausal communities.

Menopause is a dynamic transformation—one that is physical, yes, but also deeply cultural and social and familial and political—and this recognition matters deeply to solutions proposed and the goal of achieving true health and civic equity. We take heart in the words of one of the many contributors: “We—all of us—will not disappear with age. We will arrive.”

(Click here to read more)

Tune in for a new episode of Ms. magazine's podcast, On the Issues with Michele Goodwin, at MsMagazine.com, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. 

Menopause will affect most women during their lifetime—but until fairly recently, it was a topic largely relegated to the shadows. More and more, advocates are calling for the spotlight to be put on menopause—highlighting not just the important health issues at play, but the ways in which they affect diverse populations, from Black and brown women to queer and trans people to incarcerated people and more.

Omisade Burney-Scott, creator of The Black Girls’ Guide to Surviving Menopause, is one of those advocates. She joins Dr. Michele Goodwin to discuss why intersectional conversations around menopause are so important, and why these discussions are important for the preservation of democracy.

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