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Myths That Plague Us

By Tish Sommers.

Older women are a new breed today. Not only are there far more of us; a greater percentage of us, for better and for worse, are on our own. Changing roles and, expectations for women have also had a great impact on older women, especially women in the middle years.

In the absence of research, myths are perpetuated and these same myths reinforce biases which limit research into the legitimate areas of concern of older women. The result is a continuing circle of ignorance. Without solid information as a counterbalance, women internalize these myths and help keep them going. It will not be the medical profession but women themselves who break the cycle by demanding adequate research, and by their own example.

Myth I: Menopause is a disease

[See page 6 of this issue of What She Wants.]

Myth II: Older women are sexless

If women are defined primarily in terms of their reproductive function, it follows that when this function ceases, sex and sexuality will fade away. Older women are seen as dried up physically and emotionally, without interest in sex and not of interest to potential partners. The research literature on sex and older persons is sparse, and most of it pertains to men. But The Hite Report by Shere Hite (MacMillan, New York, 1976), a nationwide study of female sexuality, smashes the cliche of the sexless older woman, Since sex is a popular subject for research, other studies will undoubtedly follow. The Hite Report found that: most women felt that their sexual pleasure had increased with age; other older women were interested in sex, but were having difficulty finding partners they liked; some had lovers, others had begun to relate sexually to other women and still others enjoyed sex with younger men or were content with autoeroticism.

The basic problem does not appear to lie in a lack of sexuality of older women, but in a paucity of

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agreeable partners. In other words, if society's view of older women were enhanced, sexuality would fall into line.

Myth III: Older women are unattractive

One reason so many older women lack mates is an ageist conception of beauty. Media reinforces childhood images of older women as hags, crones, witches and mean stepmothers in more subtle forms. Madison Avenue usually pictures older women as comic characters or leaves them out entirely. The oftnoted sex differential in aging ("attractive" men with graying hair and wrinkled faces versus women clutching Oil of Olay) is not inherently part of the sex chromosomes, but is created by society and can be combated like other myths. New standards of the future will recognize the beauty of each stage of life, resulting in improved mental health for all women: for those who are mid-years and older—a new joy of living; for those coming on—a reduced fear of loss of youth.

Myth IV: Good health belongs to the young

"What do you expect at your age?" is a refrain shared by too many medical personnel to the detriment of older persons. The expectation of ill health in later years encourages the practitioner to ignore symptoms which would be tended to in someone younger, and often prevents older persons from seeking help. There is a corollary which assumes that health care is less important for older people. For example, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Age Discrimination Study, Part II, Jan. 1979, reported that community health center programs authorized under the Public Health Service Act are primarily geared to youth and women of childbearing age.

Good health is the profound desire of most persons as they grow old. Neither age nor death is feared as much as the loss of health. This provides strong motivation for a turn-around in life style, diet, and health habits, and deserves the attention of medical personnel without age bias.

Myth V: Age and senility are synonymous

When a younger woman (or man) forgets something, it is assumed that s/he has something else

on her/his mind. But let an older women or man make the same slip, and senility is seen as right around the corner. In fact there is a medical term for this phenomenon: pre-senile cognitive slippage (PSCS). As we grow older, most of us acquire tricks to compensate for loss of short-term memory, and rely more on our varied experience and improved judgment. The harm is done when we internalize the senility myth and lose faith in our own mental capacities.

According to Dr. Robert Butler, Director of the National Institute on Aging (Why Survive?, Harper & Rowe, 1975, p. 232), the term is used indiscriminately, often applied by therapists to anyone over sixty with a problem. He thinks that "senility" should be discarded in favor of "emotional and mental disorders in old age," to encourage more careful diagnostic and treatment plans, and to counter the notion that all mental disorders of old people are untreatable.

In some persons there is noticeable mental deterioration in old age; in many others there is not. But how much deterioration is physiologically inevitable, and how much is socially induced by the label of "senile," administration of drugs, and loss of dignity?

Myths are overcome in part by research, but research is stimulated by persons who clearly state from their own experience that the myths are false. Women as a whole have successfully challenged many false conceptions about the female condition. Researchers have then followed up and made it official. These myths which compound sexism with ageism are equally vincible, especially when older women speak out vigorously in their own behalf.

"Myths That Plague Us" has been excerpted with permission from Gray Paper, No. 3: Issues for Action, published by Older Women's League, 3800 Harrison Street, Oakland, CA 94611. Next month we will present more information from Gray Paper, No. 3.

The ERT Products

Women take ERT in any of the following forms (this list contains most of the common brand-name products. Generic versions are also available):

Oral products which are straight estrogen: Amnestrogen by Squibb: red-coated tablets (.625 mg), yellowcoated tablets (1.25 mg), purple-coated tablets (2.5 mg).

Premarin by Ayerst: reddish-coated oval tablets (.625 mg), bright yellow-coated oval tablets (1.25 mg), purple-coated oval tablets (2.5 mg), green-coated oval tablets (.3 mg).

Estratab by Reid-Provident: yellow-coated tablets (.625 mg), red-coated tablets (1.25 mg), pink-coated tablets (2.5 mg). Ever by Syntex: orange-coated tablets (.625 mg), pink-coated tablets (1.25 mg), yellow-coated tablets (2.5 mg).

Ogen by Abbott: yellow tablets (.625 mg), peach tablets (1.25 mg), blue tablets (3 mg), light green tablets (6 mg).

Estiny! by Schering: beige-coated tablets (.02 mg), pink-coated tablets (.05 mg), peach-coated tablets (.5 mg).

Diethylstilbestrol by Lilly: red-coated tablets or white tablets (.1 mg, .25 mg, .5 mg, 1 mg and 5 mg).

Hormonin by Carnrick: pink and white tablets (1.13 mg), green and white tablets (2.27 mg).

Estrace by Mead Johnson: lavender, scored tablets (1 mg), turquoise tablets (2 mg).

Injectibl ERT products:

Injections that are straight estrogen: Delestrogen (Squibb), Depo-Estradiol Cypionate (Upjohn) and Estradurin (Ayerst).

injections that combine estrogen with other drugs: Depo Testadiol (Upjohn), Depotestógen (Hyrex), Deladumone (Squibb), Test-Estrin (Marlyn).

Injectable progestin products: Progynon (Schering), available in 25 mg pellets for implantation under the skin, Depo-Provera (Upjohn).

Oral Progestin Products:

Amen by Carnrick: beige tablets (10 mg medroxyprogesterone acetate, a derivative of progesterone).

Provera by Upjohn: orange, scored tablets (2.5 mg medroxyprogesterone acetate); white, scored tablets (10 mg medroxyprogesterone acetate).

Micronor by Ortho Pharmaceutical: small lime tablets (.35 mg norethindrone).

Gynorest by Mead Johnson: white, scored tablets (5 and 10 mg doses dydrogesterone).

Norlutate by Parke, Davis: scored tablets (5 mg norethindrone acetate).

Norlutin by Parke, Davis: white, scored tablets (5 mg norethindrone).

Oral products which combine estrogen and other drugs: This group includes preparations containing male hormones (testosterone), vitamins, tranquilizers, and other more unusual ingredients. They are his 'n' her compounds, frequently recommended for aging men with osteoporosis. In Australia, young men take them, too, as contraceptive pills!

These ERT products contain testosterone: Gynetone 02 by Schering: salmon-pink-coated tablets (.02 mg estrogen and 5 mg methyltestosterone).

Gynetone 04 by Schering: green tablets (.04 mg estrogen and 10 mg methyltestosterone).

Halodrin by Upjohn: small pink-scored tablets (.02 mg estrogen and 1 mg fluoxymesterone).

Estratest by Reid-Provident: long green-coated tablets (1.25 mg estrogen and 2.5 mg testosterone).

Test-Estrin by Marlyn: capsules, tablets or sublingual tablets (.25 mg estrogen and 1.25 mg testosterone) or (.5 mg estrogen and 2.5 mg testosterone).

Premarin with methyltestosterone by Ayerst: dark red-coated tablets (.625 mg estrogen and 5 mg methyltestosterone), yellowcoated tablets (1.25 mg estrogen and 10 mg methyltestosterone).

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Topical ERT Products:

Premarin cream (Ayerst), Dienestrol cream (Ortho) and Diethylstilbestrol suppositories (Lilly).

These ERT products also contain vitamins: Formatrix by Ayerst: long red-coated tablets (1.25 mg estrogen, 10 mg methyltestosterone, and 400 mg vitamin C).

Mediatric by Ayerst: long black capsules or red-coated tablets (.25 mg estrogen, 2.5 mg methyltestosterone, and a general selection of vitamins). (Just in case all those vitamins didn't get you going, Ayerst thoughtfully added 1 mg methamphetamine hydrochloride, commonly known as speed.) Mediatric is also available in a liquid formula which, in every 3-teaspoonsful, contains the same doses of estrogen, methyltestosterone, vitamins, and speed, plus 15 percent alcohol. Whee!

Gevrine by Lederle is also a "togetherness" hormone compound. Recommended for both males and females it contains an array of vitamins and minerals, in addition to .01 mg estrogen and 2.5 mg methyltestosterone in a purple capsule,

Another "togetherness" compound is manufactured by Geriatric Pharmaceutical. In addition to .005 mg ethinyl estradiol and 1.25 mg methyltestosterone, it contains a variety of vitamins and minerals plus amino acids.

These ERT products contain tranquilizers:

Menrium 5-2 by Roche; light green tablets (.2 mg estrogen and 5 mg chlordiazepoxide (Librium)). Menrium 5-4: dark green tablets (.4 mg estrogen and 5 mg Librium). Menrium 10-4: purple tablets (.4 mg estrogen and 10 mg Librium).

Milprem-400 by Wallace: dark pink-coated tablets (.45 mg estrogen and 400 mg meprobamate-better known as the tranquilizer Miltown). Milprem-200: light pink-coated tablets (.45 mg estrogen and 200 mg Miltown).

PMB 400 (red tablet) and PMB 200 (green tablet) by Ayerst contain the same ingredients as Milprem-400 and Milprem 200 respectively.

From Women and the Crisis in Sex Hormones, by Barbara and Gideon Seamon.

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February, 1980/What She Wants/Page 71