Allopathy

Drawing on Miranda Fricker’s account of testimonial injustice, this autoethnographic prose poem explores experiences of menopausal embodiment and medical consultation through an arts-based research lens. The prose poem form is used methodologically to represent the fragmentation, unpredictability and sensory intensity of menopausal experience, resisting the linear, rational and symptom-focused conventions of clinical narration. Through metaphor, rhythm, intertextuality and disjunction, the text challenges allopathic frameworks that translate diffuse, multi-systemic symptoms into psychiatric or pharmacological scripts rather than pursuing deeper etiological understanding. In doing so, the poem positions creative practice as both method and critique, showing how poetic autoethnography can make visible forms of epistemic injustice that conventional academic or medical language may obscure. The work ultimately argues for greater recognition of menopause subjects as credible interpreters of their own bodies and for more expansive, humane approaches to care, knowledge and representation.