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Old 11-11-2016, 07:16 PM   #1
Doppleganger
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Indefinite Fertility

Let's have a hypothetical debate people.

Say on Monday, the FDA approves a drug intended to prevent female UTIs, but has the side effect of indefinitely extending fertility in women. That means no menopause and no hormonal changes that come about with it, provided the drug is taken continuously and menopause never actually takes place. If menopause takes place, that's it, there's no going back.

This means that women in their 70's could have children, although due to aging that would not be recommended. Such a drug would also, predictably, be incompatible with the birth control pill past the typical menopause age. Using birth control or stopping use of this new drug would both trigger menopause.

This drug, thus, gives women more control over their biological destiny than nature intended, since it gives women an option to never meet The Wall. I'd like to see some analysis on the broad implications of this. Like,

1. How does it impact sexual dynamics?
2. How does it impact economics?
3. How does it impact marriage decisions?

etc.

Is this a good thing, bad thing, what. Go crazy!
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Old 11-11-2016, 10:22 PM   #2
Talon87
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I feel like the fertility conversation and the postmenopausal physical changes conversation are two very different things.

Re: fertility: I don't see the point in extending fertility if the eggs are still going bad. Even without menopause, women tend to not want to try for kids in their 40s because of the increased risk of having a baby with trisomy 21. While menopause offers a hard stop, it's also a relatively early stop: the eggs don't start "going bad", perceptually, until the 40s, but menopause is right around the corner in the 50s. So it's hard to gauge how much of women stopping having kids has to do with menopause (the hard stop at 50) and how much of it has to do with fears of congenital abnormalities (the soft stop at 40).

If you had made a magic exception that said that, in addition to prolonged fertility, women could now have kids as late as their 60s or 70s with no more added risk of congenital abnormalities than women having kids in their 20s and early 30s, then I could see this being a big deal. But if instead it goes the opposite direction, if instead we're going to see rates of 50% chance of Down syndrome when you conceive at 60 and 90% chance when you conceive at 70, well then I don't think very many women are going to be gunning for this drug from the fertility angle.

Re: postmenopausal physical changes: Here's where I think your drug would really find its market. If there is one geriatric difference to pinpoint between men and women, it's that the penis doesn't hurt getting erect or inserting into cavities when you're 70 but the vagina does hurt getting penetrated. Thinning, drying out, irritation, and other factors all common to a majority of postmenopausal women. If there's anything that'll kill your sex life, it's vaginal tearing. So sure -- if you could come up with a wonder drug that counteracts the changes that many women experience after menopause, then I imagine it would do wonders for a great many geriatric couples. They've still gotta deal with osteoarthritis and other obstacles to a fun and happy sex life, but at least as far as the main sex act goes, it should be okay.
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Old 11-11-2016, 10:38 PM   #3
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I tied fertility/postmenopausal together deliberately, but perhaps the reason isn't obvious.

Why do men vastly prefer pre-wall women? Looking at it strictly from a sex POV, post-wall women have a lot of advantages: they're stigmatized being post-wall, they're wealthier, and immediately post wall they might still have good looks and figure on their side, even into middle age.

The reason is, men place a premium on a woman's ability to have kids, even if they don't exercise that ability. The confidence of being able to be a father whenever you want with a woman is an advantage over a woman who can never have kids again. It isn't just about physical beauty, status or personality. It's a power, a male power they obtain indirectly by choosing their partner. Women by contrast don't really have much choice because they're programmed with the wall, while men more or less have the flexibility to choose when they want kids to within a decade of the median lifespan.

Given this, I feel fertility and recreational sex can't be divorced. This drug isn't intended to merely be viagra for her even if there are health benefits that come along with maintaining pre-menopausal hormones and factors, since women still age and they would still be unable to have children. The improvement would be marginal than what I want to discuss.

I feel like, even with a high incidence of down syndrome, women would still give it a shot for pregnancy at an advanced age. Because, and I know this sounds terrible, if you're only expected to live for 10, 20 more years, you won't be stomaching the worst burden of caring for a mentally/physically disabled child. The opportunity cost for a young person dealing with such a disease is their young life is ruined. For an older person, it's like, a last ditch effort for passing her genetics on to the next generation. When you're that close to death, what is there to lose?
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Old 11-12-2016, 03:42 AM   #4
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More bleeding, more cramps, more PMS, and it never ever ends? People willingly take this drug?
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