Going through Menopause as a Black Butch-Identified Woman

Activist and philanthropist Mo George speaks with Omisade Burney-Scott on the podcast, "The Black Girl's Guide to Surviving Menopause." Mo shares her story of coming out, aging while queer, and what it’s like to be a Black lesbian Butch-identified woman going through menopause in the era of COVID-19.

Black women have been... able to usher me through womanhood, especially walking through the world perceived as wanting to be a man... [which] I don't... To me, [I need] to have women in my life who accepted that --because there are a lot of women who don't, and even more men who don't... Especially now as I'm getting older and I'm changing, like my body is changing, I realize my moods are changing too... In my life right now I want genuine loving folk. The 53 mode and the 23 mode are different people.

Omisade Burney-Scott notes,

I think that people don't realize that the umbrella of reproductive justice begins when you take your first breath, and ends when you take your last breath... Menopause is absolutely about reproductive justice because it is about bodily autonomy, Mo, and about you being able to know what the hell is going on with your body, what you need, what are your questions, to be fully seen -- be fully seen exactly who you are, no matter how you identify, no matter how you walk into a space, no matter who you are.

The "Black Girl's Guide to Surviving Menopause" podcast curates intergenerational conversations about identities, intimacy, mentorship, and more, throughout the changing stages of menopause.