Why do women outlive their reproductive years? How does our menopause experience differ from that of other species and cultures? Why do many women still crave sex after their reproductive days are over? In this fascinating chat with Dr. Deena Emera, author of A Brief History of the Female Body: An Evolutionary Look at How and Why the Female Form Came to Be, we explore various mysteries of the female body through an evolutionary lens and attempt to answer some poignant questions about our biology.
Deena and I discuss:
- Which species have the most in common with humans in terms of reproductive span and longevity, and how rare the menopause transition is across the animal kingdom
- The most dominant hypotheses that attempt to explain why women run out of eggs and hit menopause decades before they're expected to die—unlike chimps, which die around the time they go through menopause
- Whether or not women will eventually evolve to go through menopause at a later age
- How women in Western culture experience menopause differently than females in other parts of the world, and how lifestyle behaviors can impact symptoms and even the average age of menopause
- Whether or not menopause has always been a "difficult" transition and how our ancestors may have had an easier time with it
- Why our genomes evolve much more slowly than our culture
- The ways in which mothers and their offspring are in reproductive conflict throughout pregnancy and early childrearing
- Why many women are still interested in sex after menopause and what that says about estrogen
- How the lack of female representation in medical studies has impacted women's health—and whether or not that's changing
- How scientists may be closer to discovering how to treat osteoporosis, which is common in post-menopausal women, and why autoimmune diseases are on the rise, especially among women
You're going to be fascinated by Deena's research and observations about the female body, so listen now! Full show notes at Morebeautifulproject.com.
