Menopause hit Darcey Steinke hard. First came hot flushes. Then insomnia. Then depression. As she struggled to understand what was happening to her, she slammed up against a culture of silence and sexism. Some promoted hormone replacement therapy, others encouraged acceptance, but there was little that offered a path to understanding menopause in an engaged way.
She felt lost until she encountered a scientific fact: the only two creatures on earth that go through menopause are human women and female killer whales. Her fascination with this fact became the starting point for Flash Count Diary, a powerful exploration into aspects of menopause that have rarely been written about, including the changing gender landscape that reduced levels of hormones brings, the actualities of transforming desires, and the realities of prejudice against older women.
Flash Count Diary is a deeply feminist book, honest about the intimations of mortality that menopause signals but also an argument for the ascendancy, beauty and power of the post-reproductive years in women's lives.
