Well, Friedan is one lucky woman if she only had one hot flash she can barely remember. It probably means she has naturally favorable hormone levels either because of good genetics or her diet, and she is apparently among the 25 percent of women who sail through menopause without symptoms.

But what about the other 75 percent? These women are not as fortunate. Whether because of a complete hysterectomy, or just having their ovaries removed, less favorable genetics, a poor diet, or high stress levels--just to mention a few of the possibilities--these women can become noticeably and often severely symptomatic.

One third of women in this country have had hysterectomies (a shocking number, which we will talk about in a later chapter), and all of these women have suffered a hormonal "disruption" of some magnitude and will need help in balancing.

The impulse to shield women from drugs that are potentially harmful is a good one, but unfortunately, estrogen itself has become demonized rather than the specific products that have been shown to pose risks for a woman's health.

The negative result is that women who would benefit greatly from the right kind of hormone replenishment or from a treatment plan that would help them deal with uncomfortable symptoms during menopause don't reach out and get the help they deserve.

Turning a Blind Eye to Menopause
Some women choose to deny the existence of menopause altogether, as if acknowledging it would be admitting that there is a difference between men and women. And some women have even gone so far as to insist that the studying of masculine and feminine differences is subversive to the feminist cause.

From a medical point of view, denying the difference between the sexes can actually have very serious negative consequences and can compound an existing problem. If, as we've said, medical treatment in the United States today is fundamentally based on a male body, then from a diagnostic point of view women are already treated like men--but very unequal men. The problems that are unique to women--in this case, hormonal fluctuations and imbalances--have historically been ignored or have been treated as emotional problems. In fact, the word "hysterical" comes from the Greek word for uterus. In the nineteenth century, the typical English doctor would simply remove the uterus when a woman displayed what to his mind was excessive emotionality. The medical literature is dismayingly rife with such examples. To deny the physical uniqueness of a woman is to collude with the prejudice that women have irritatingly aberrant male bodies.

The debate about hormones is being carried on in the wrong arena. The question is not if you should take hormone replacement therapy drugs, but what constitutes a healthy and vital body at menopause and what specific actions and products you should use to manage symptoms and restore balance to support your hormonal system.

What Is "Unnatural"?
Some women decide that they will just let menopause run its course, because taking supplements for it isn't natural. But the fact is that contemporary life for women has become very unnatural. Over hundreds of thousands of years of evolution, humans have developed sustaining behaviors for their strength and longevity, such as eating a plant-rich diet and moving their muscles regularly. But in the short span of perhaps fifty years, processed foods and preservatives and a more and more sedentary lifestyle have virtually eliminated many of these body-sustaining behaviors from our lives.