Menopause remains one of the last taboos in our permissive, talk-about-everything pop culture. Even though every woman will go through some form of this chemical “reordering,” menopause is still regarded as a condition or a disease. Most people understand it as just another “normal” phase in a woman’s life, a phase that is essentially dismissed as a mere bookend in a women’s evolution from puberty through the end of her reproductive years.

As a result, this transition has been inadequately examined. Instead, menopause has remained largely in the shadows, whispered in horror stories and overplayed in tasteless punchlines.

Women are fed up. It’s time to stand up and be heard! It’s time to create a society in which all women feel prepared for and supported in their journeys to and through menopause

“The [M] Factor: Shredding the Silence on Menopause,” a feature-length documentary film, centers on the lived experiences of women across the U.S. Cameras follow women into their doctors’ offices, at work, and in their homes to expose the challenges they face—including racial biases, gender-ignorant care, inequitable structures and systems, and barriers due to the lack of basic healthcare research. The women featured here open up about their experiences and share their stories of enduring debilitating symptoms while being ignored, ridiculed and/or shamed—and left untreated.

Now there’s a movement to fix the broken system, change the culture and transform our future. “The [M] Factor” turns the spotlight on the progress being made. With input from emboldened physicians, healthcare advocates and leaders in the menopause movement, the film focuses on what is being done to address this public health crisis and offers solutions that can be replicated in medical communities and workplaces across the country.

“The [M] Factor” gives women, their physicians and their advocates a voice and a chance to be seen, heard and respected.