Menapause?

What are the affects of the hormonal changes of menapause in relation to your thesis


EDitor sez:

Not OUR thesis. We borrowed it from somebody else.
Look up "major histocompatibility complex", "the pill", and "mate selection".

As for menopause (check your spelling, it's from the Greek, by way of French... and basically means "stopping of the monthlies"), it's possible that there's a similar effect, but it likely gets lost in the much greater hormonal upheaval.

Hard to know, really.

But usually, by the time women are done menopause, both partners are pretty set in their ways, have much of their lives already invested in staying with the partner, etc. Even if the attraction goes down, there's less motivation to cheat or leave, because there's less sex drive and greater investment of so many other kinds.

Contrast that with those same people fifteen years earlier, when the woman goes off the pill for conception or health reasons, and finds herself less attracted to her mate. She doesn't have that additional fifteen years of growing up and growing together with her spouse. She's got far less fiscal investment, and she's got much more of a feeling that she could have other possibilities (not just other men... but there is that, too...) in the life stretching ahead of her.

Anyway, we thought the connection with the pill was intriguing and plausible and - more and more - seemingly supported by studies.