On Thu, 30 Aug 2001 16:58:44 EDT Sheryl Canter <[log in to unmask]> writes:
> The effects of menopause make it very clear that evolution sees no
> purpose in post-menopausal women.

Ardeith writes:
When you consider that human females are the only mammalian
species to experience menopause.......there simply *must* have
been some "survival-positive" aspect to it.   Every other female
mammal out there dies shortly after weaning her last offspring.

Elephants may be the exception to this.....I dunno.....the old
matriarchs of the herd may stop going into estrus........or may
simply not mate after a certain age.        But if there were not
some "survival-positive" value to human females living on after
their fertile time passes.........we would not have evolved to
do so.      The elder aunties and grannies fill many roles
in tribal cultures...............taking care of younglings so the
parental units can work......passing on lore......providing
knowledge of past events.  You have to remember that
we lived in tribal or clan units for far longer than we have
lived as "industrialized" peoples.........our species has
been evolving for maybe 4 million years......agriculture
is only 10K years old......and industry is younger yet.

Seems to me that within the time of recorded history
the females out-lived the males by a good margin........
so continuing fertility really did the males little good.
I'm told by the mid-wives I know that historically
male babies are less robust than female babies......
and historically males have died in the hunt or in war
at a greater rate than females.......so few males out-lived
the females............

Seems to me I've read that women in industrialized countries
who work in the same stress-filled environments as men do
are as vulnerable to heart-disease as the men......the key
is the level of stress..........I read somewhere that few women
had heart attacks until the last 50-75 years......one factor
being working women and stress.....the other factor being
changes in their diets........they don't stay at home and tend
their gardens anymore.......so they don't eat as much really
good food............

As for the Japanese.....I've never been able to "grok" them
anyway......................

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Walk The Path With Practical Feet!

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