The history of the male menopause 1848–1936

A distinct form of literature appears in Britain and the U.S.A. which portrays the male climacteric (or 'menopause') in a similar optimistic light, and a central feature of this optimism is the gradual eroticisation of everyday life.

Abstract

The explicit intention of the majority of nineteenth and early twentieth century writers on the change of life was to dispel the aura of anxiety they believed surrounded the popular view of the menopause and to encourage middle-aged women (and their husbands) to regard the menopause as a necessary yet transitory phase through which the majority would pass to a higher and more fulfilling stage of life. These writers sometimes include references to the parallel problems of men, and from the latter part of the nineteenth century a distinct form of literature appears in Britain and the U.S.A. which portrays the male climacteric (or 'menopause') in a similar optimistic light. A central feature of this optimism is the gradual eroticisation of everyday life.