Is the Menopause Enlightenment here?

September 22, 2026

Plus: we all read the same thing this weekend ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

September 22, 2026

Greetings, Meteor readers,

Since last week, I have been in deep debate with a friend about which flavor profile is better: apples or pumpkins. We have been friends for 16 years, and I think this will be the thing that tears us apart forever.

ME TO MY FRIENDS ON A RANDOM THURSDAY

In today’s newsletter, we dig into a crucial health gap that’s been harming older women. Plus, a Mississippi grand jury comes up short on the Nolan Wells case, and the school news story everyone is talking about right now.

Apple hive,

Shannon Melero

WHAT’S GOING ON

A Menopause Enlightenment? Over the last few years, menopause has experienced a glow-up. It’s gone from a topic women whispered about, and doctors overlooked, to an experience screamed loudly and proudly by the likes of Halle Berry. With its overabundance of new creams, apps, beauty products, supplements, and Samantha Jones references, the rise of Big Menopause can sometimes seem like just another wellness marketing phenomenon. But it has also led to some long-overdue justice for older women, who have for generations been failed by the medical establishment.

We’re inching closer to facing those failures. The attention around menopause has led to some necessary corrections to how this period of a woman’s physical life is studied, funded, and treated. You’ve probably heard the story: Back in 2002, the Women’s Health Initiative, a hormone therapy trial, was halted after researchers found that breast cancer rates among women in the trial had gone over the safety threshold. The conclusion drawn was that the risks of estrogen use outweighed the benefits; these results were later found to be profoundly overstated, but in the meantime, women were denied what we now understand to be vital care. For years, spooked by misinterpretations of the 2002 study, the FDA had placed a black box warning on all estrogen products, discouraging doctors from prescribing it to patients.

As a result, many women suffered. Women like Roselin Shankland, a 78-year-old woman who died in 2023 after a urinary tract infection spread to her bloodstream. “She spent her life taking care of people,” Shankland’s daughter told USA Today, which just published an extensive investigation of menopause-related medical neglect. “And in the end, no one took care of her. My mother didn’t need to die.”

Specifically, she could have been saved by a highly effective preventive treatment: A recent peer-reviewed study of almost 2 million women in Urology Journal found that vaginal estrogen cream, which strengthens vaginal tissue and makes it less prone to infection, reduces the chance of UTI hospitalization in menopausal women by half. And yet most women are never offered the option—including Shankland.

“This one very simple medicine could have saved my mother,” Shankland’s daughter said. In fact, according to USA Today’s analysis of the data, vaginal estrogen could have saved the lives of 22,158 post-menopausal women with recurring UTIs between 2017 and 2025. Yet even after the FDA’s black box warnings were removed a year ago, this treatment is still not widely prescribed for UTIs.

So where does that leave all of us who are approaching or currently in menopause, or with loved ones who are? One doctor tells USA Today, “Every woman in menopause needs vaginal estrogen.” Periodt! (Or lack of period, I guess.) It’s not a universal rule, of course—some groups, like people who have a history of blood clots or certain cancers, are still not advised to take estrogen—but the point is this: Life-threatening, treatable illness is not the price anyone born with a uterus should have to pay for aging.

AND:

Yesterday, a grand jury found there was no evidence of criminal conduct in the death of teenager Nolan Wells, who drowned after an outing with friends in Mississippi. That means charges will not be brought against the young men who were last seen with Wells before he died. Wells’ parents and their lawyer plan to contest the findings.
Earlier today, Afghan cyclist Fariba Hashimi took home the silver medal at the Asian Games. Hashimi, who was born in Afghanistan and fled to Italy when the Taliban returned in 2021, used to disguise herself as a man while training as a teen. She and her sister are now both pro cyclists representing their home country. “This silver medal can show a lot of resilience from Afghan women, and I’m really happy,” Hashimi told The Guardian. “I’m not alone, I know that behind me millions of women, from many countries, have the same dream and they are standing with me.”

HASHIMI, LEFT, ALONG WITH GOLD MEDALIST GUO LI C OF CHINA AND BRONZE MEDALIST LEUNG WING YEE OF HONG KONG AT THE PODIUM AFTER THE WOMEN’S ROAD RACE EVENT AT THE 2026 ASIAN GAMES (VIA GETTY IMAGES)

WIRED surveyed 634 women working in tech about their jobs, AI doom, and whether or not the bro-tech culture has changed in the last five years (nearly half say no). “My outlook these days is profoundly grim and cynical,” one ops worker said. My kind of gal!
Does the internet make you feel bad about how you mother? Is the internet also selling you products that promise to fix your bad mothering? It turns out there’s a pretty big (lucrative) reason for that.
Manosphere dipshit influencer Clavicular has been charged with the rape and drugging of a 17-year-old girl to whom he gave alcohol during a livestream.
I am once again asking that Ryan Murphy be stopped from making shows. Or at least get some sort of assistance if he’s going to do shows about women.
Not all heroes wear capes, but quite a few of them use WhatsApp.
The Bush is back. (Negative connotation.)

EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT…

…journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones’s reflective piece about school choice and segregation in The New York Times Magazine this weekend. If you haven’t read it already: Hannah-Jones writes beautifully about what happened when her daughter Najya realized that she’d intentionally been sent to an under-resourced school as part of her parents’ wider mission to improve a racist school system. In short, Najya had some questions.

The story itself is incredibly well-written, and the reactions have been plentiful, with some of the brightest women we know discussing what it takes to both live your values and give your child what they need. Many are echoing a sentiment so many parents seem to share: How exactly do I do what’s best for my child? How do we even define “best” in a system so unjust?

Back in 2016, when Hannah-Jones first wrote about her decision, she and The Meteor’s Rebecca Carroll sat down for a conversation about it and their shared worries over making the best decision for their children, which you can watch here.

If you’re a parent navigating the school system for your child, we’d love to know what you thought of the piece, and how you’re making your own decisions about what’s best. Reply to this email and let us know.