Mad Scientists

So ... some scientists somewhere have decided that women may evolve out of going through menopause as it's no longer of any use to them.

This is rooted in the 'grandmother hypothesis' that suggests women evolved the menopause and stopped having babies right through to the end of life, as other mammals do, as a survival strategy.  By not competing with their own children for resources for their respective babies, it gave the grandchildren, and thus the shared genes, a greater chance of surviving and continuing through subsequent generations.  So far, so reasonable. In which case, I'm really not sure where the advantage to women in back-tracking down this particular evolutionary road might be.

I can see why a small number (overall) of privileged women might see it as a benefit to extend their reproductive years beyond the current biological limits.  Some, of course, already do, and that's another soapbox for another day.  But I can only view the possibility of having babies velcro-ing themselves to ones support stockings or having to use ones zimmer and emergency help cord like a lion tamer's chair and whip during 'the terrible twos' as some kind of dystopian horror.  The idea of mother and child bonding over the shared use of incontinence knickers is just not right!

Besides, most women I know relish the all too brief space available in their handbag between Tampax* and Tenalady*.  I can't see us voluntarily giving that up for anything.



*Other brands of ladies unmentionables are also available.