What’s up with menopause? As a woman in her late 40s experiencing hot flashes and other signs of the looming cessation of menstruation, I’m wondering why women lose the ability to reproduce while men retain it, at least theoretically, until death. Not that I’m going to miss the pill, tampons, etc, but there’s a lack of symmetry here that bothers my sense of aesthetics. Please advise. –Kitty Phelan, Chicago
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
There used to be a comforting theory about menopause. In a famous 1957 paper, evolutionary biologist George C. Williams argued that menopause differed from other consequences of old age, such as failing eyesight and wrinkles, in that (a) it happened relatively early in life, usually around the half-century mark, and (b) it was inevitable regardless of how much attention a woman paid to her health. What’s more, he said, it seemed to be unique to humans. Other female mammals, most notably other female primates, were capable of bearing children till the end.
Charming though it was, the granny hypothesis suffered from certain defects. The most obvious was that until the 20th century menopause wasn’t just the time when a woman ceased ovulating; it was more or less the time when she died. Average age at menopause today is 51; average life expectancy in 1900 had only reached 47. In other words, during most of evolutionary history, the average woman had enough eggs to last a lifetime. Anthropological research has turned up little support for the granny effect, and theoretical models suggest that, notwithstanding the social benefits of nonchildbearing grandmothers, more offspring would survive if women just kept having babies.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): illustration/Slug Signorino.
