> > Did she have dairy when she was  young? Could it be the bovine growth
> > hormone in the dairy?? etc...

I've been reading Eaton et al's book and they have fascinating information
on puberty and menstruation.  One interesting point is that the concept of
peers or cliques is a newby in the human experience; kids way back when were
born an average of years apart (based on the study of current
hunter/gatherers).  It was hard to find many kids of the same age within a
tribe.  They were of various ages, teaching many different social skills.

This does mean, however, that older and younger girls played together.
Wouldn't this make for earlier periods?  Here's a very interesting point.
Menstruation among hunter/gatherers begins much later than among modern
girls.  H/G girls average around 17 years of age at menarch with girls today
started around 12 and often at 11.  There are numerous theories as to why.

This is the part I found the most interesting; whether modern or
hunter/gatherers, teens have sex before marriage.  The only difference
between then and now is that girls can get pregnant earlier.  In tribal
society, marriage and menarch go hand in hand.  But still, first birth
averaged at 18 to 19.  Unwed motherhood was all but unheard of due to both
marriage at menarch AND the inability to concieve at 12.

Primal urges are obviously as old as mankind.  While I certainly believe in
at least some semblance of self control in light of pregnancy and sexually
transmitted diseases, slapping children on the hand for exploring their
sexual urges clearly goes against everything human.  These facts also shoot
down Freud's 'latency' theory; sexual exploration in early childhood and
adulthood, a period of no exploration between child and adulthood.  It
starts early and never ends.  We need to find a way to deal with it without
messing with our children's minds.

Dori Zook
Denver, CO

(who will only say *I* never had a latency period!)
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