Lebanese Minister Lectures on Femininity

Minister Karam Karam

In a lecture organized by the Women's Auxiliary of the AUB Medical Center on March 6 in West Hall, the former Lebanese Minister of Health Karam Karam focused on

the importance of femininity in a woman's life, which he said accompanies a woman for a lifetime and is a composite of "mind, body and soul." The minister is currently a clinical professor of reproductive medicine at AUBMC.

Entitled "Feminine Forever," the talk attracted a large audience, including Lebanese First Lady Mona Al-Hrawi. Dr. Karam tackled the difficulties that accompany women during their journey of femininity, primarily those of menopause and equality with men. "Femininity is very different from masculinity," said Karam. "They are in fact parallel to each other and there is no way they can meet."

Regarding menopause, Karam denounced the Arabic version for the word, which "implies devastation and despair." Karam also distinguished between the two main functions a woman is bound to "perform": motherhood and femininity. "While motherhood starts with having one's first child and ends or is limited by menopause, femininity starts with her birth and ends with her death. Femininity lives on and thrives on closeness, caring, and companionship," said Karam.

Medicine has been able to provide alternatives to stop or slow menopause, he said. Some of them are more harmful than beneficial, like the hormone replacement therapy that causes heart attacks, strokes, and breast cancer.

Karam ended his talk with a review of some measures a woman can take to alleviate the symptoms and effects of menopause, namely, "keeping a healthy diet, exercising regularly, having enough sleep, and watching weight gain." According to Karam, physical decline stems more from disuse rather than from age. "Femininity is not limited by age, it brings rewards and challenges and one has to accept the inevitability of aging, Karam concluded.