“Long Live the Mensi-Mob”: Communicating Support Online With Regards to Experiencing Menopause in the Workplace

This study uses qualitative methods to examine how menopausal women make sense of their experiences and tensions they may face in dealing with menopause at work as revealed through an online menopause discussion board and also how the women of the discussion board communicatively manage these tensions. Results indicate three dialectical tensions: (a) resistance-conformity; (b) supportive-unsupportive work environment, and (c) embracing-denying menopausal identity. The women manage these tensions in varying ways, which include denying one part of the tension, embracing both sides of the poles, and vacillating between the poles. However, it appears as though one productive way for these women to make sense out of their experiences is to join an online discussion board relating to menopause.