'Hot and Bothered': Sinai Health Supports Mature Women

Fresh thinking on menopause

What’s got women of a certain age so hot and bothered? Sinai Health Foundation’s latest ad, by Canadian agency Diamond, answers that question.

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In the Western medical field, women’s health is incredibly under-researched. So, when menopause hits, it often comes as a surprise, treated as such by those struggling with symptoms.

These can be weird and vary. My mother said she felt no effects, ever. A friend said her menopause took 10 years—during which her sense of body-knowledge unraveled, spiraled, went haywire. Then, suddenly, the menopause stopped. Just as suddenly, she missed it.

Unlike adolescence or maternity, doctors don’t seem to have much to say about menopause. Women often report feeling stranded or left to their own devices, wondering if they’re going a bit insane.

But things are starting to change. In addition to medical support, there’s hope that culture itself can make accommodations for this transformative event, shepherding women through it instead of alienating us.

A lot of stuff gets shaken up when transformation occurs. Think what we could disrupt, for the better, if we better understood and even facilitated changes instead of treating them as aberrations.

We get beautiful ads about menopause now, like TENA’s from two years ago. LG is experimenting with how AI in air conditioners can help women better manage hot flashes.

And as menopause stories enter pop culture—with the film The Substance or Miranda July’s hit book All Fours—we’re starting to see companies take note and try cashing in.

All of which brings us to “Hot and Bothered,” which constitutes a howl into what is hopefully no longer a void.

“We have managed successful careers, put up with more than we should have, changed the course of history … we have always put others first. So yes, we are hot and bothered. Because we just want to know what’s going on with our bodies, what’s going on with our minds. Can somebody please tell me what is happening to me?!” the narrator demands.

The ad responds: “It’s time for answers on menopause.”

We shouldn’t have had to wait this long to get research, and appropriate care, around something that will happen to everyone with a set of ovaries.

The work promotes Sinai’s new Centre for Mature Women’s Health, dedicated to correcting this inequity. It rallies support among Canadians as a community, to help care for those who have so often been asked to care for everyone else at the expense of themselves.

“As long as menopause remains a taboo topic, women are less likely to receive the support and care needed through this often-challenging transition,” says Lana Chen, VP of integrated and brand marketing at Sinai. “The stigma around menopause has led to gaps in research, training and more broadly, women’s health. Sinai Health believes closing the gap is long overdue.”

The work includes a collaboration with Peace Collective for a limited-edition T-shirt, available on the latter’s website as well as at Sinai’s gift shop. All profits support the Centre for Mature Women’s Health.