Perimenopause isn’t a whisper. For many women, it roars.

Mood swings. Brain fog. Sleep disruption. Weight fluctuations. A sudden intolerance to foods that never used to be a problem. These aren’t just random symptoms, they’re your body’s way of saying, something is shifting. And that shift is hormonal.

For decades, centuries, even, modern medicine has defaulted to a male blueprint. From clinical trials that excluded women to research that neglected the menstrual cycle, the female body has been treated as a deviation from the norm, rather than a standard in its own right. Not only did this oversight skewed data; it has delayed diagnoses, deepened suffering, and left many women navigating a system that was never built with them in mind.

For too long, women’s hormones have been blamed, dismissed, or brushed aside as if “being hormonal” were an insult, a punchline, or a reason to be ignored. But female hormones are not a flaw in the system. They are the system. And yet, they continue to be treated as side notes in both medical care and cultural conversations.