The current research blames the growth hormones in the meat and milk.
That and more exposure to adult men in families that are NOT biological fathers are some of the theories that many explain girls as young as 8 regularly getting their periods. From an evolutionary point of view the lowering of the reproductive age of girls is unprecedented in the history of mankind. At a time when kids are learning how to give change for a dollar, they are dealing with sexual feelings as their bodies are changing. Far earlier than any generation before them. Eek!
It came to the forefront this week with the news that a 9-year-old Mexican girl, under the reported name of Dafne, gave birth to a baby girl in Jalisco, Mexico.
Dafne, who is one of 11 children, lives in Ixtlahuacan de los Membrillos, a poverty-stricken neighborhood 25 miles south of Guadalajara. “Her parents work all day and were not watching after her,” says Corona, “and therefore didn’t realize what was about to happen.”
How terrifying is that. I know two girls that have had their periods by age 10.
What does this mean when our bodies are changing this early? I am doing some Government mandated counseling for women in their 40’s who are about to undergo fertility treatments. In Ontario if you use human tissue (embryo, sperm donation etc) you have to undergo mandatory counseling. Lots of time the process doesn’t work and it women are taken aback that they can’t control their fertility. With contraception you can control not getting pregnant. Thus you should be able to control your fertility. It doesn’t work that way. Despite menopause changing (some people think it’s the estrogens and PCB’s leeching out from all of those plastic containers) We don’t control our bodies when it comes to reproduction. If you are 50 and look 35, it doesn’t matter. Your eggs are OLD, and you are infertile without loads of help. And even then.
With these changing fertility age guideline it may be that we have to deal with our ability to reproduce before our daughters (or us eek!) are ready.
