Patricia Yarberry Allen, M.D. is a Gynecologist, Director of the New York Menopause Center, Clinical Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Weill Cornell Medical College, and Assistant Attending Obstetrician and Gynecologist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. She is a board certified fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. Allen is also a member of the Faculty Advisory Board and the Women’s Health Director of The Weill Cornell Community Clinic (WCCC). Dr. Allen was the recipient of the 2014 American Medical Women’s Association Presidential Award.

Our mentions of magazines in this week’s “The Year in Menopause” seems to have struck a chord or two, at least among WVFC contributors. Today, Alexandra MacAaron and our own Pat Allen weigh in on the changes afoot at two newsstand heavyweights, More and Vogue.  —Ed.

The phone calls and emails began early this morning. ‘What happened to you?’ ‘Who took that photograph?’ ‘There’s a photo of you on the back page of the New York Times Art Section, but you really don’t want to see it.’

Great. I am already hobbled by the mornings, as many of you may know from my descriptions of early morning struggles. Now I had to wonder what happened when I was photographed on Sunday night, as a co-host for the screening of the film Desert Flower at MoMA.

The husband, already at work since 3 a.m. (now this a morning person!), was in no mood to hear that I had to have a copy of the New York Times now. So, I threw a coat over my short PJs and ran to the corner newstand, expecting the worst.

I discovered that More magazine is hosting its annual Reinvention Convention on Monday, October 18, and had taken out a full-page, full-color ad. The bad news was also the good news. One speaker on a panel about relationships was indeed a Dr. Pat Allen—known for many books, including one in particular about how to pick up men at airports. (This book appalled my adolescent sons years ago, when their friends accused them of having a mother who would write such a book.)

The good news is that we look nothing alike.

More had not asked me to be part of this panel. Dr. Hilda Hutcherson, a new board member of Women’s Voices for Change, and I had met as co-panelists a few years ago at the Reinvention Convention, and had a great time on that panel discussing post-menopausal vaginal health, libido, and sex after 40. Funny, honest, and raucous. She was the best gift More ever gave. But we must have had too much fun, because they didn’t ask us back.

That was back in the day when More was “The Magazine for Women Over 40.” Now, More has a new tagline, since “women over 40” must have made them and their advertisers feel so old. The new tag is “For Women of Style and Substance.” How’s that for ambiguous?

Here at WVFC, we happily identify with (and celebrate) women over 40—it’s right there in our mission statement, along with the goal of redefining menopause in terms of today’s women. Come to think of it, we are women of style and substance. We just happen to be over 40, too.