Episode 19

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Published on:

1st Apr 2026

Why Strong Women in Menopause Can't Trust Masculine Leadership (Explains Best Selling Author)

You’re not struggling because you’re weak.

You’re struggling because you’ve had to be strong for a very long time.

In this episode of Menopause Love Lounge, we’re talking about something that doesn’t get said out loud enough—why so many capable, self-sufficient women hit a point in midlife where trusting masculine leadership in relationships feels… almost impossible.

Not because they don’t want support.

But because they’ve learned not to rely on it.

And menopause has a way of bringing that pattern into sharp focus.

As your tolerance drops, your standards rise, and your body stops accommodating what no longer feels aligned, the roles you’ve been playing—leading, managing, holding everything together—can start to feel exhausting instead of empowering.

So what happens when a woman who can do it all… no longer wants to?

And why does trusting someone else to lead feel so unfamiliar—or even unsafe?

In this conversation, we’re joined by Best Selling Author and Relationship Coach GS Youngblood to explore what masculine leadership actually looks like in a healthy relationship—and why so many women struggle to trust it, especially after years of over-functioning.

We talk about how these patterns are formed long before menopause, and why midlife often becomes the moment where they can no longer be ignored.

In this episode, we get into:

  • – Why strong, capable women often default to leading in relationships
  • – The difference between being capable and feeling safe enough to let someone else lead
  • – How over-functioning impacts attraction, desire, and emotional connection
  • – What masculine leadership actually is (and what it’s not)
  • – And how to begin shifting out of doing it all… without losing yourself

Because this isn’t about becoming less powerful.

It’s about learning how to experience support, partnership, and trust in a way that actually feels good in your body.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re the one holding everything together—and also the one quietly exhausted by it—this episode will likely resonate.

🔗 Links & Resources

✨ Not sleeping like you used to? Try MenoSleep: Buy it here

GS Youngblood

Masculine Leadership in Relationships

💡 WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

Are you struggling with masculine leadership or lack thereof in your relationship? Tell us what's going on with you!

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🌐 Website: https://menopause-love-lounge.captivate.fm

✉️ Email: theladies@menopauselovelounge.com

Mentioned in this episode:

Apple-Sleep

From Mrs to Ms Dating & Relationship Podcast

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About the Podcast

Menopause Love Lounge
Redefining Intimacy, Identity & Relationships
Menopause Love Lounge is a menopause podcast for women in midlife who feel misunderstood, dismissed, and quietly blamed—and know that what they’re experiencing deserves more than surface-level answers.
Menopause isn’t just a hormonal transition. It’s happening inside a culture that profits from women feeling broken, depleted, and “behind”—offering quick fixes that keep us disconnected from our bodies, our relationships, and each other.
Six women talk honestly about sex after menopause, intimacy, menopause-related anxiety, emotional burnout, identity shifts, nervous system overload, boundaries, self-trust, changing relationships, and the quiet loneliness that so often defines midlife.
Many women reach this season having pulled back from female friendships—not because they don’t value them, but because years of comparison, fear of judgment, and emotional self-protection made closeness feel risky. We name that honestly, and we talk about what it takes to rebuild connection in ways that feel safe, real, and nourishing again.
Six hosts matter because no single woman gets to be the answer. This isn’t single-voice authority—it’s real women thinking together, questioning out loud, and letting complexity be honest.

This isn’t another podcast telling you what to buy, fix, or optimize.

It’s a place to slow down, tell the truth, and remember that what you’re feeling makes sense.

Welcome to the lounge.

(Hosted by Andrea Knoche, Ozzie Osborne, Dawn Wiggins, Karen Viesta, Junie Moon, and Laurie Gerber.)
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About your hosts

Andrea Knoche

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Podcast host and on-air personality, Andrea is the creator of Menopause Love Lounge and host of From Mrs. to Ms. She’s passionate about honest, unfiltered conversations around reinvention in midlife, and also around menopause and the impact it has on relationships, identity, and intimacy.

Ozzie Osborne

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Ozzie Osborne is a love and relationship coach grounded in attachment science and nervous system regulation. She works with individuals and couples to uncover the patterns shaping their relationships, move out of reactive cycles, and build secure, connected partnerships.

Laurie Gerber

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Laurie is a love and dating coach, the host of the podcast Love at Any Age, and creator of the course Master the Art of Love. She helps women get radically honest about what they want, break unhealthy patterns, and create deeply fulfilling relationships with confidence and clarity.

Junie Moon

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Love coach and shadow work expert, Junie helps women break lifelong patterns, heal emotional blocks, and reconnect with their true selves. She guides women in midlife to create deeper, more aligned relationships rooted in self-worth, authenticity, and emotional freedom.

Karen Viesta

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Midlife influencer and wellness coach, Karen Viesta helps women feel more energized, confident, and turned on by life. She shares what actually works to look better, feel better, and make midlife your most vibrant and powerful chapter yet!

Dawn Wiggins

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Dawn Wiggins is a licensed marriage and family therapist, homeopath, and host of Dear Divorce Diary. She helps women untangle divorce, hormones, heartbreak, and midlife identity shifts with sharp insight, nervous system healing, and deep emotional discernment. She’s known for saying the thing everyone is thinking—but may make us blush.