Bogo Jorgensen, Pernille and Brookes, Gavin (2023) Metaphor scenarios in discourses on menopause : A critical metaphor study of online articles of women’s magazines and medical websites from Denmark and the US. PhD thesis, Lancaster University.
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Abstract
In this thesis, I identify and analyse metaphor scenarios which represent menopause and those experiencing it in selected articles from online women’s magazines and medical websites from Denmark and the US. My aim is to determine how metaphor scenarios convey beliefs, norms and values through information about a prevalent women’s health issue. I outline and identify four elements of metaphor scenarios: metaphoric expressions, agency, narrative structures, and appraisal. Through an analysis of these, I identify patterns of metaphoric schematicity, agency and appraisal, all of which contribute to the characterisation of menopause and those experiencing it. I observe differences between the genres and languages. I explain my findings by contrasting them with previous studies of metaphor in discourses on health and studies of menopause specifically. Further, I discuss my findings in relation to ideologies of health and health marketisation in the two cultures. I argue that discursive traces of the medicalisation of menopause are present across the data, but that the Danish medical website conveys the least commercialised view of health. This, I argue, is consistent with the public health model in Denmark. Compared to the metaphor scenarios on medical websites, those in the women’s magazines are more oriented towards outer signs of health, such as skin. The US magazines represent those experiencing menopause as empowered, while the Danish magazines represent a belief in fate. I conclude that the menopause and those experiencing it can be represented in many different ways, with some encompassing greater flexibility than others, which could be of value for articulating different experiences and values connected to this important health concern.