1
00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:03,000
Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.

2
00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:09,959
Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you welcome to stump Mom never told you?

3
00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:17,520
Speaker 1: From House to works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to

4
00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:20,520
Speaker 1: the podcast. This is Molly and I'm Kristin. Kristin, we

5
00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:23,160
Speaker 1: spend a lot of time in the stood together, Yes

6
00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:25,400
Speaker 1: we do. This is not the introduction you want me

7
00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:30,480
Speaker 1: to make. I'm betting I know. Keep going, Molly. I

8
00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:32,800
Speaker 1: want to see where this path leads is. I think

9
00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:34,760
Speaker 1: you know where it's going to lead us. Kristen don't

10
00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:37,080
Speaker 1: know the sparkle in your eye. I'm not really sure

11
00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:39,080
Speaker 1: where it's gonna lead us. Molly, you've already asked me

12
00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:41,920
Speaker 1: to marry you on one podcast. I beg your pardon,

13
00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:46,760
Speaker 1: Kristen Conger. You asked me to marry you? Really? Yes?

14
00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:50,360
Speaker 1: I don't remember it that way, Kristen Conger. Everyone better

15
00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:53,640
Speaker 1: write into Kristen Conger and remind her that she is she.

16
00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:57,400
Speaker 1: She has treated our marriage proposal with such disrespect, and

17
00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:00,000
Speaker 1: now she's trying to pin this on me. She wiggled

18
00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:01,560
Speaker 1: out of it, and so now I'm going to tell

19
00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:06,400
Speaker 1: an embarrassing story about her menstruation. Okay, No, I won't guys,

20
00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:09,959
Speaker 1: but that's the topic of today's episode, menstruation. We love

21
00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:12,720
Speaker 1: to talk about it. Yeah, welcome back, kiss It's Mom's

22
00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:17,560
Speaker 1: stuff menstruation Hour and uh, the question today is one

23
00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:21,240
Speaker 1: that's been off offt requested by our listeners. Coming myth

24
00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:23,640
Speaker 1: out there. It's a very common. In fact, one study

25
00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:26,720
Speaker 1: said that about of women buy into this myth. Is

26
00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:29,920
Speaker 1: it a myth? We'll get to that that women who

27
00:01:29,959 --> 00:01:31,800
Speaker 1: spent a lot of time together, as Christen and I

28
00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:35,400
Speaker 1: do in our booth, our booth of our womb, really

29
00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:41,400
Speaker 1: closed closet area. Um side Nope, Um, the women who

30
00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:43,880
Speaker 1: spent a lot of time together get in sync with

31
00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:47,240
Speaker 1: their menstrual cycles. Because how many times have you been like, oh, gosh,

32
00:01:47,240 --> 00:01:50,520
Speaker 1: I have the worst cramps. I'm just mom a period

33
00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:52,280
Speaker 1: and someone will be like me too, and then you're

34
00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:57,320
Speaker 1: like like, oh my gods. Yeah um. And you know,

35
00:01:57,360 --> 00:01:59,160
Speaker 1: the men can turn around and be like, if they're

36
00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:02,560
Speaker 1: a woman full of this, they might say women say

37
00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:05,720
Speaker 1: women full of office, They're in a women full of office.

38
00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:08,440
Speaker 1: If they're an office full of women, they'll be like,

39
00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:12,880
Speaker 1: everyone's on their period. Watch out. So yeah, it's something

40
00:02:12,919 --> 00:02:16,359
Speaker 1: that's that's batted around a lot. Yeah, and and and Molly,

41
00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:18,840
Speaker 1: I think that you and I can both agree this

42
00:02:18,880 --> 00:02:22,560
Speaker 1: is something. It just it just happens, you know, the

43
00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:26,040
Speaker 1: the moment when you're you know, complaining to to Galpal.

44
00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:29,560
Speaker 1: I think everyone spent in this moment about your menstrual moments,

45
00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:34,600
Speaker 1: because I feel like it is something of a hardcore

46
00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:38,120
Speaker 1: bonding moment when you know, in the in the in

47
00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:41,839
Speaker 1: the peak of your mentrual discomfort, a friend leans over

48
00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:47,600
Speaker 1: and says, girlfriend, same thing's happening to me. Yeah, exactly

49
00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:49,359
Speaker 1: makes you feel a little less alone because as we

50
00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:51,680
Speaker 1: just how als we have discussed about menstruation, it's a

51
00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:54,320
Speaker 1: private thing. No one talks about it. The fact that

52
00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:56,959
Speaker 1: you could even be just sharing it with someone kind

53
00:02:56,960 --> 00:02:59,679
Speaker 1: of comforting. And plus you know who to borrow tampons from.

54
00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:03,079
Speaker 1: To get to the root of whether or not women

55
00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:05,360
Speaker 1: do in fact sync up their minstrual cycles, we had

56
00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:08,160
Speaker 1: to go back to nineteen seventy one. This all starts

57
00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:14,040
Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy one with Martha McClinton. Yes, and she

58
00:03:14,320 --> 00:03:17,440
Speaker 1: was just an undergraduate, which is pretty impressive to me,

59
00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:21,360
Speaker 1: and as many undergraduates, dude, she noticed, Hey, all these

60
00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:24,480
Speaker 1: ladies who lived together, they tend to have their parents

61
00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:27,040
Speaker 1: at the same time. I think, like in a dorm setting,

62
00:03:27,240 --> 00:03:29,239
Speaker 1: women's dorm, Yeah, I mean in college. I mean I

63
00:03:29,240 --> 00:03:31,320
Speaker 1: think that's when you first maybe start to really notice

64
00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:33,799
Speaker 1: the fact that this can happen. Yeah once once you start, yeah,

65
00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:35,560
Speaker 1: you move out of your parents house and you're living

66
00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:38,400
Speaker 1: with other women, although if you're living with your mom,

67
00:03:38,440 --> 00:03:42,080
Speaker 1: that can affect things. Anyway, Martha noticed it when she

68
00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:44,400
Speaker 1: was at the Storm because it was an all female dorm.

69
00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:49,840
Speaker 1: Women overload boom. She decides to investigate and she publishes

70
00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:53,920
Speaker 1: her study in nineteen seventy one um Base and the

71
00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:56,560
Speaker 1: basis of her study was to ask a hundred thirty

72
00:03:56,600 --> 00:04:01,200
Speaker 1: five college girls to recall their periods start dates um

73
00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:03,760
Speaker 1: and the period before that start date at three times

74
00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:05,880
Speaker 1: during the year. So she had a total of six

75
00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:10,240
Speaker 1: period start dates, and she found that as the year

76
00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:13,240
Speaker 1: went on, the start dates got closer and closer together.

77
00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:17,720
Speaker 1: And I what I love about a menstrual synchrony study, Christen,

78
00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:20,159
Speaker 1: is that there usually has to be a really detailed

79
00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:23,600
Speaker 1: analysis of what the dorm looked like and just how

80
00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:26,920
Speaker 1: close the women were and where the common areas were,

81
00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:29,240
Speaker 1: and who was sharing a room with who, and who's

82
00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:32,240
Speaker 1: and whose friends with whom and how close of friends

83
00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:35,919
Speaker 1: are they? Yeah, it's it's very much turning uh college

84
00:04:36,040 --> 00:04:39,760
Speaker 1: drama into a paper starts because it's like, here's like

85
00:04:39,839 --> 00:04:42,560
Speaker 1: all the dorm here's who didn't like each other, here's

86
00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:45,760
Speaker 1: who had to live together anyway, did their periods sync up?

87
00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:48,640
Speaker 1: And so in that first nineteen seventy one study, McClintic

88
00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:52,120
Speaker 1: finds that, yes, they get closer together, that something is

89
00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:55,680
Speaker 1: affecting these women so that their menstrual periods start an end.

90
00:04:55,720 --> 00:04:57,880
Speaker 1: At the same time, she wasn't quite sure what it

91
00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:00,800
Speaker 1: was right and from just to be specific, from April

92
00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:05,599
Speaker 1: to October. Throughout the study, the close friends, the girls

93
00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:07,760
Speaker 1: who are and the girls who were living together, their

94
00:05:07,880 --> 00:05:12,680
Speaker 1: periods aligned two days closer um, which she found to

95
00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:16,240
Speaker 1: be a pretty significant result. And thanks to this, we

96
00:05:16,240 --> 00:05:19,680
Speaker 1: should say, thanks to the sensation that was this nineteen

97
00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:23,800
Speaker 1: seventy one study published in the journal Nature menstrual synchronization

98
00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:27,520
Speaker 1: also referred to as the McClintic effect. We will not

99
00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:30,880
Speaker 1: leave McClintic behind for this entire podcast. She she has

100
00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:33,800
Speaker 1: a recurring character just duck away. She might be the

101
00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:36,320
Speaker 1: starring role. I shouldn't call her recurring character. Now, let

102
00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:37,919
Speaker 1: me throw out some of the reasons she thought this

103
00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:41,280
Speaker 1: was happening, because she wasn't sure in nineteen seventy one

104
00:05:41,279 --> 00:05:43,159
Speaker 1: what was causing that. She considered perhaps it was the

105
00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:46,040
Speaker 1: fact they all ate in a common cafeteria, because there

106
00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:49,320
Speaker 1: are some species that it's more about times of plenty

107
00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:54,400
Speaker 1: that that changes their cycles more than than close proximity.

108
00:05:54,440 --> 00:05:56,760
Speaker 1: But she had also studied rats, and it was close

109
00:05:56,800 --> 00:05:59,760
Speaker 1: proximity that affected the rats. Um. She thought maybe the

110
00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:02,520
Speaker 1: moon had something to do with it, particularly if women.

111
00:06:02,680 --> 00:06:04,800
Speaker 1: If these women were like having steady groups late at

112
00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:07,680
Speaker 1: night and they were exposed to more light than they

113
00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:09,240
Speaker 1: would be if they had been asleep, like she thought,

114
00:06:09,279 --> 00:06:12,160
Speaker 1: maybe the light dark cycles were affecting them to write

115
00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:16,480
Speaker 1: because they've found what in like certain monkey species, they're

116
00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:21,520
Speaker 1: mentioned their men sees there a stress cycles are heavily

117
00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:24,560
Speaker 1: influenced by the moon, which she was wild sometimes we

118
00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:29,359
Speaker 1: will refer to menstruation as our moon cycle. Um. She

119
00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:31,240
Speaker 1: thought maybe it was just the amount of time people

120
00:06:31,279 --> 00:06:33,440
Speaker 1: spent together, which is why she asked all the girls

121
00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:36,039
Speaker 1: in the study to evaluate, like their best friend, the

122
00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:38,480
Speaker 1: person they saw the most the roommate, because maybe it

123
00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:41,040
Speaker 1: was just like during sleep that that the roommate was

124
00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:43,800
Speaker 1: influencing this. She thought maybe it might be men. So

125
00:06:43,839 --> 00:06:46,720
Speaker 1: she asked all the girls about relationship statuses, and then

126
00:06:46,760 --> 00:06:49,040
Speaker 1: one thing she throws in, you know, these ten reasons

127
00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:51,359
Speaker 1: where she's trying to figure out what's going on, she

128
00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:56,800
Speaker 1: mentioned pheromones. And pheromones are kind of controversial in whether

129
00:06:56,839 --> 00:07:00,320
Speaker 1: they exist in humans or not. Yeah, they No one

130
00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:04,680
Speaker 1: has ever really come to a conclusion about pheromones. It's

131
00:07:04,720 --> 00:07:08,880
Speaker 1: something that we can't really explain. But they're basically hormonal

132
00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:13,880
Speaker 1: signals that our bodies supposedly give off that influence that

133
00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:17,120
Speaker 1: other people have a physiological reaction to. And a lot

134
00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:20,560
Speaker 1: of times when we talk about pheromones, it's related to attraction,

135
00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:24,360
Speaker 1: Like you send off some kind of lusty signal to

136
00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:27,880
Speaker 1: John Hamm and he he picks up on it. Yeah,

137
00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:31,400
Speaker 1: and it's it's kind of controversial just because the mechanism

138
00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:35,880
Speaker 1: for picking up pheromones hasn't been definitively found in humans.

139
00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:38,040
Speaker 1: But I think we've talked about, like on our Lust podcast,

140
00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:41,000
Speaker 1: some animals you can see the organ that can pick

141
00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:45,000
Speaker 1: up these unconscious signals that we're all sending so um.

142
00:07:45,080 --> 00:07:48,640
Speaker 1: So she continues this work on pheromones and other people

143
00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:50,760
Speaker 1: are you know, at the same time that she's working

144
00:07:50,760 --> 00:07:53,960
Speaker 1: on these pheromones. I think people are confirming her study.

145
00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:57,720
Speaker 1: And then in n mcclinic comes up with a or

146
00:07:57,760 --> 00:08:00,480
Speaker 1: comes out with, I should say, a far allow up

147
00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:07,280
Speaker 1: study really driving home this ovulation pheromone connection, where she

148
00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:12,720
Speaker 1: says absolutely the pheromones that women produce have an effect

149
00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:16,440
Speaker 1: on other women's ovulation cycles. And she thinks that what

150
00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:19,240
Speaker 1: we're doing is sending each other messages about wins a

151
00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:21,360
Speaker 1: good time to have a baby, because if you look

152
00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:25,440
Speaker 1: at these ancient populations, then it's to your advantage to

153
00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:27,960
Speaker 1: be a mother with a bunch of other mothers. Your

154
00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:31,440
Speaker 1: brood has a better chance of surviving versus these broods

155
00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:34,200
Speaker 1: that it's just one one kid. Yeah, and it depends

156
00:08:34,280 --> 00:08:37,680
Speaker 1: on what phase uh in your cycle you're in, whether

157
00:08:37,720 --> 00:08:41,040
Speaker 1: you're in the luteal phase or the fellicular phase, basically

158
00:08:41,120 --> 00:08:44,560
Speaker 1: like how close you are to drop in that how

159
00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:48,920
Speaker 1: pregnant can you get? So I have to say she

160
00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:51,040
Speaker 1: says that women in the study didn't even know if

161
00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:52,520
Speaker 1: they were in the control group of the real group,

162
00:08:52,559 --> 00:08:53,679
Speaker 1: but I have to say, I don't know if the

163
00:08:53,679 --> 00:08:56,480
Speaker 1: study sounds very appealing for me to do, because what

164
00:08:56,600 --> 00:09:00,520
Speaker 1: it involves is taking a swab from an armpit of

165
00:09:00,520 --> 00:09:02,959
Speaker 1: a woman who is in one of these phases that

166
00:09:03,040 --> 00:09:06,199
Speaker 1: Kristen mentioned and giving it to another woman and seeing

167
00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:11,120
Speaker 1: if that swab, smelling that swab based on based on

168
00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:14,960
Speaker 1: where these women were, did it didn't affect their menstrual cycle. Yeah,

169
00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:20,440
Speaker 1: and mclinic says absolutely, she said, depending on she swabbed

170
00:09:20,440 --> 00:09:23,439
Speaker 1: for two different pheromones based on the where the women

171
00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:26,120
Speaker 1: were in their menstrual cycle, and she said that one

172
00:09:26,880 --> 00:09:31,320
Speaker 1: pheromone produced before ovulation would shorten the ovarian cycle of

173
00:09:31,360 --> 00:09:36,240
Speaker 1: the woman who you know was wearing this this underarm

174
00:09:36,400 --> 00:09:40,240
Speaker 1: patch around which her odorless. Again pho, it's like smell

175
00:09:40,920 --> 00:09:43,679
Speaker 1: right right, Um, it's not like you know, they're wearing

176
00:09:43,679 --> 00:09:47,480
Speaker 1: like someone's dirty laundry. But then the second pheromone, which

177
00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:52,480
Speaker 1: was produced at ovulation, would lengthen their cycles like this

178
00:09:52,520 --> 00:09:54,360
Speaker 1: is not a good time to get pregnant, way a

179
00:09:54,400 --> 00:09:58,200
Speaker 1: little longer. So she's found that you can affect menstruation

180
00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:00,679
Speaker 1: both ways. You can both shorten the side goal and

181
00:10:00,800 --> 00:10:04,720
Speaker 1: lengthen the cycle, depending on which pheromone produced at which

182
00:10:04,760 --> 00:10:09,080
Speaker 1: part of your cycle you can you're smelling, So she says, yes,

183
00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:13,600
Speaker 1: this is definite proof of both pheromones and of menstrual synchronization, right,

184
00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:16,640
Speaker 1: And we should say too that sixty percent of the

185
00:10:16,679 --> 00:10:23,480
Speaker 1: female participants experienced some kind of change alteration in their cycles,

186
00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:26,640
Speaker 1: but some women did not, so there was still kind

187
00:10:26,640 --> 00:10:29,640
Speaker 1: of this this other question of well, what is kind

188
00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:33,360
Speaker 1: of going on here? Why aren't the pheromones affecting everyone equally?

189
00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:36,960
Speaker 1: But still six percent pretty significant proportion. It's pretty significant.

190
00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:40,080
Speaker 1: So you know, throughout throughout this time, the Clintic is

191
00:10:40,120 --> 00:10:42,280
Speaker 1: doing all sorts of work with pheromones. One thing she

192
00:10:42,360 --> 00:10:46,880
Speaker 1: found is that, um, when when women smell a nursing

193
00:10:46,960 --> 00:10:51,439
Speaker 1: mother's pheromones, they too, uh, they experience more sexual desire.

194
00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:54,720
Speaker 1: But thought being that, uh, you know, they can smell

195
00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:56,800
Speaker 1: that another woman's had a baby and is nursing it.

196
00:10:56,800 --> 00:10:59,360
Speaker 1: It's a healthy baby, the woman's nursing healthfully, and we

197
00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:01,640
Speaker 1: want a baby. I want a baby, so I'm going

198
00:11:01,720 --> 00:11:04,120
Speaker 1: to feel so much sexual desire. I mean, they didn't

199
00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:06,240
Speaker 1: even measure whether it's been one baby. They asked them,

200
00:11:06,280 --> 00:11:08,679
Speaker 1: if you are with a man, do you feel like

201
00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:10,600
Speaker 1: having more sex. They were like yes. They were like,

202
00:11:10,640 --> 00:11:14,000
Speaker 1: if you are single, are you having more sexual fantasies?

203
00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:18,080
Speaker 1: The women were like yes. So this work um on pheromones.

204
00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:22,439
Speaker 1: I think it's really notable because it evaluates women's health

205
00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:24,320
Speaker 1: in a way that I don't think is evaluated that

206
00:11:24,440 --> 00:11:27,440
Speaker 1: often in the academic world. How often on this podcast

207
00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:30,880
Speaker 1: have we said women are understudied. They're not doing research

208
00:11:30,920 --> 00:11:33,400
Speaker 1: on women. They'll do the research on men, but not women.

209
00:11:33,440 --> 00:11:36,439
Speaker 1: So here's an example of how one woman's work has

210
00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:38,920
Speaker 1: really influenced a lot of a lot of work on

211
00:11:39,080 --> 00:11:42,480
Speaker 1: you know, sexual desire and opulation and when's the best

212
00:11:42,520 --> 00:11:45,040
Speaker 1: time to get pregnant. So I think that's pretty cool.

213
00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:52,280
Speaker 1: But but McClintic has some foes, friendly foes, I suppose

214
00:11:52,840 --> 00:11:59,959
Speaker 1: friendly foes, but mcclinic. Not everyone completely bought mcclintics synchrony theory.

215
00:12:00,280 --> 00:12:03,719
Speaker 1: In two thousand five, we have a pair of researchers

216
00:12:04,120 --> 00:12:08,200
Speaker 1: from the University of California and also from North Sichuan

217
00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:12,560
Speaker 1: Medical College in the People's Republic of China. They publish

218
00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:17,440
Speaker 1: a study and it's got a pretty pretty straightforward title. Molly,

219
00:12:17,520 --> 00:12:20,160
Speaker 1: you ready for this? Smack own? In my opinion. All right,

220
00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:23,400
Speaker 1: So the name of the study, published in the journal

221
00:12:23,520 --> 00:12:28,760
Speaker 1: Human Nature Winter two thousand six, quote, women do not

222
00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:36,640
Speaker 1: synchronize their menstrual cycles. Subtitle eat at mcclinic. I don't

223
00:12:36,640 --> 00:12:40,120
Speaker 1: see that subtitle on my copy. But you don't even applied.

224
00:12:40,280 --> 00:12:44,480
Speaker 1: It was pretty clear they broke down m clinics methodology

225
00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:49,720
Speaker 1: and said, I smell a rat. Here's something is not right.

226
00:12:49,880 --> 00:12:53,240
Speaker 1: I don't like how she collected her data. I don't

227
00:12:53,240 --> 00:12:56,679
Speaker 1: know like how she analyzed her data and applied statistical

228
00:12:57,600 --> 00:13:00,679
Speaker 1: analyzes to it. We're gonna do this again, and we're

229
00:13:00,720 --> 00:13:05,479
Speaker 1: gonna do it better. And uh, guess what, women don't synchronize.

230
00:13:05,880 --> 00:13:08,800
Speaker 1: No more bonding for you women. Stop stop talking about

231
00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:12,360
Speaker 1: your periods, ladies, and just get over it. I think

232
00:13:12,400 --> 00:13:15,680
Speaker 1: that Jeffrey Shank and marthama Clintic were actually friends, and

233
00:13:15,720 --> 00:13:17,800
Speaker 1: he actually wanted it to work out really well, but

234
00:13:17,920 --> 00:13:19,800
Speaker 1: once he did this research, he was like, I can't

235
00:13:19,880 --> 00:13:23,600
Speaker 1: can't support It's like, Martha, Martha, I'm sorry, Martha. I tried,

236
00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:27,199
Speaker 1: but Martha, you are wrong. Because here's here's what they do. First. First,

237
00:13:27,240 --> 00:13:29,240
Speaker 1: they do the experiment because they want to do a bigger,

238
00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:31,520
Speaker 1: better study. So they use a hundred and eighty six

239
00:13:31,640 --> 00:13:34,200
Speaker 1: Chinese women living in dorms over the course of a year,

240
00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:37,400
Speaker 1: and again you get this great layout of like the

241
00:13:37,440 --> 00:13:39,920
Speaker 1: dorm and what it's like there and whose friends with who,

242
00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:43,280
Speaker 1: who likes whom, who's around who's around each other a lot?

243
00:13:43,840 --> 00:13:45,760
Speaker 1: And uh So they do that and instead of just

244
00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:48,320
Speaker 1: asking a women to recall, they have the women keep journals,

245
00:13:48,559 --> 00:13:50,400
Speaker 1: which I have to say already that sounds like a

246
00:13:50,520 --> 00:13:53,600
Speaker 1: much better methodology than just getting someone to recall their

247
00:13:53,640 --> 00:13:56,120
Speaker 1: last two period start, right, Because when I think about

248
00:13:56,120 --> 00:13:57,920
Speaker 1: the last time you went to the doctor and they

249
00:13:57,920 --> 00:14:00,800
Speaker 1: were like, well, what was the date of your last period?

250
00:14:01,160 --> 00:14:02,840
Speaker 1: You have to scratch your head for a minute, you know,

251
00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:05,760
Speaker 1: I mean, we don't. Yeah, it can be hard to remember,

252
00:14:05,920 --> 00:14:08,720
Speaker 1: that's the point. So these women are in college, they're

253
00:14:08,760 --> 00:14:12,400
Speaker 1: keeping track of their um their period start dates. They're

254
00:14:12,440 --> 00:14:15,720
Speaker 1: all college age, and so they collect the data and

255
00:14:15,880 --> 00:14:18,880
Speaker 1: they run it through all sorts of all sorts of

256
00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:22,840
Speaker 1: data analyzes and they find, you know, yeah, sometimes you do.

257
00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:25,760
Speaker 1: You do start your period on the same day. Sometimes

258
00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:27,720
Speaker 1: you do see evidence of the fact that women might

259
00:14:27,760 --> 00:14:30,920
Speaker 1: be changing their cycles. But that's just because women change

260
00:14:30,960 --> 00:14:34,360
Speaker 1: their cycles. It's because there's not a set cycle length.

261
00:14:34,640 --> 00:14:37,480
Speaker 1: It can be affected by things such stress, It can

262
00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:40,800
Speaker 1: be affected by you know, diet, yeah, all these things.

263
00:14:41,160 --> 00:14:43,240
Speaker 1: So let's not let's not say that if these other

264
00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:46,720
Speaker 1: women causing this, because they really can't find anything other

265
00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:50,480
Speaker 1: than casual association. Right. Basically, when you take a large

266
00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:54,600
Speaker 1: group of women who are you know, sharing the same

267
00:14:54,640 --> 00:14:58,320
Speaker 1: space at some point, like you said there, they'll have

268
00:14:58,360 --> 00:15:00,800
Speaker 1: their period at the same time just by a chance,

269
00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:04,720
Speaker 1: and other times they won't, you know. And so that's

270
00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:06,120
Speaker 1: what they say. And they go back and they look

271
00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:08,040
Speaker 1: at all of the Clintic's work and they're like, this

272
00:15:08,120 --> 00:15:11,280
Speaker 1: is this is chance? So I guess doesn't It doesn't

273
00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:13,680
Speaker 1: diminish the amount of bonding you can do, can be more.

274
00:15:13,880 --> 00:15:15,840
Speaker 1: Instead of being like, oh, we're bonding because we're staying

275
00:15:15,840 --> 00:15:17,880
Speaker 1: so much time together, it's like, wow, we have the

276
00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:20,080
Speaker 1: good fortune to both have had our menstrual cycle at

277
00:15:20,080 --> 00:15:22,640
Speaker 1: the same time. But it's nothing more than that. Just chance,

278
00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:25,080
Speaker 1: just just chance. All the chance doesn't mean that we

279
00:15:25,160 --> 00:15:29,000
Speaker 1: have to be friendlier in the hall. Um, let's let's

280
00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:31,040
Speaker 1: not let's not take this too seriously. We don't need

281
00:15:31,080 --> 00:15:33,480
Speaker 1: to get married. I'd like to keep a casual distance

282
00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:36,440
Speaker 1: from you. But but you know, I think that the

283
00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:39,720
Speaker 1: reason why you said earlier in the podcast, of women

284
00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:45,360
Speaker 1: believe that they do synchronize with their girl friends, and

285
00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:48,880
Speaker 1: I think it's just because it's sort of just reflects

286
00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:52,120
Speaker 1: the findings of the Shank study that at some point

287
00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:55,040
Speaker 1: you have so many periods throughout your lifetime, and they're

288
00:15:55,080 --> 00:15:57,960
Speaker 1: probably so many times you know that it just slips

289
00:15:57,960 --> 00:16:03,240
Speaker 1: out somehow to a girlfriend or whoever that you are

290
00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:08,600
Speaker 1: experiencing your moon cycle, that at some point, you know,

291
00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:10,800
Speaker 1: the chances are the odds are in your favor that

292
00:16:10,840 --> 00:16:15,280
Speaker 1: at some point someone's gonna say me too exactly, and

293
00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:17,160
Speaker 1: you know there's and they still don't know. You know.

294
00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:20,360
Speaker 1: In the first nineteen se staid a clinic didn't even

295
00:16:20,400 --> 00:16:23,400
Speaker 1: rule out people who are on hormonal birth control because

296
00:16:23,400 --> 00:16:25,440
Speaker 1: she thought maybe they're still sending out the signals. Maybe

297
00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:29,480
Speaker 1: everyone was getting sink to the birth control person. I

298
00:16:29,560 --> 00:16:32,120
Speaker 1: can't prove it. There's it doesn't matter if you're on

299
00:16:32,160 --> 00:16:35,240
Speaker 1: birth control, if you're not. If you have ten periods

300
00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:37,840
Speaker 1: a year, twelve pairs a year, and have a main

301
00:16:37,880 --> 00:16:40,640
Speaker 1: periods you have, it's just chance. And I gotta say

302
00:16:40,680 --> 00:16:43,080
Speaker 1: it was I was a little sad to see them

303
00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:47,040
Speaker 1: clinic effect debunked. But at the same time too, Like

304
00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:51,880
Speaker 1: you said, Molly, it is an argument, uh against forging

305
00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:55,840
Speaker 1: false friendships on the basis of your periods. It's a

306
00:16:55,920 --> 00:17:00,320
Speaker 1: positive thing, true, And I feel like, you know, maybe

307
00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:02,560
Speaker 1: you have something in common with your enemy just because

308
00:17:02,600 --> 00:17:05,040
Speaker 1: you don't spend a lot of time with her, you

309
00:17:05,119 --> 00:17:08,359
Speaker 1: might still both be having a period. Yeah, just by chance.

310
00:17:08,480 --> 00:17:13,040
Speaker 1: Just by chance. The world spends on chance. So there

311
00:17:13,080 --> 00:17:18,560
Speaker 1: you have it, myth busted. Do women sync up their periods? Yeah? Maybe,

312
00:17:18,600 --> 00:17:24,200
Speaker 1: but it's just by happenstance, not because of the rainbow

313
00:17:24,280 --> 00:17:29,000
Speaker 1: bond of friendship between you and stars and magic. And

314
00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:31,080
Speaker 1: the jury is still out on pheromones. I mean, there

315
00:17:31,119 --> 00:17:33,679
Speaker 1: might still be something to that. But and if you

316
00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:35,800
Speaker 1: feel like your libidos take a little bit of a

317
00:17:35,840 --> 00:17:39,200
Speaker 1: dip fin hang out with some women who are breastfeeding,

318
00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:41,760
Speaker 1: that's another takeaway. Yeah, I think I think the takeaways

319
00:17:41,760 --> 00:17:44,000
Speaker 1: the McClintic is still doing pretty valuable work that, as

320
00:17:44,040 --> 00:17:46,760
Speaker 1: I mentioned, highlights women and the messages we might send

321
00:17:46,760 --> 00:17:51,440
Speaker 1: to each other in a really unique way. But the

322
00:17:51,560 --> 00:17:55,480
Speaker 1: question of the day to gallop how sync up? No busted.

323
00:17:56,280 --> 00:18:03,000
Speaker 1: So on that note, let's read some emals. I have

324
00:18:03,240 --> 00:18:08,280
Speaker 1: an email from Amelia on the episode about gender and instruments.

325
00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:11,320
Speaker 1: She writes, my father has been after me and my

326
00:18:11,359 --> 00:18:13,359
Speaker 1: two sisters for as long as I can remember to

327
00:18:13,359 --> 00:18:17,959
Speaker 1: play one very specific instrument, the susaphone. Not about an

328
00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:21,600
Speaker 1: instrument that came up in our podcast, she writes, Uh,

329
00:18:21,720 --> 00:18:23,639
Speaker 1: the susa phone is basically a giant tube, but that

330
00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:26,720
Speaker 1: wraps around the player's body A boy instrument, to be sure,

331
00:18:26,960 --> 00:18:29,920
Speaker 1: But Dad insisted, think about it. Your average Big ten

332
00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:33,200
Speaker 1: university needs twelve susophones on the field at every football game.

333
00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:35,040
Speaker 1: That means they need to bring in at least four

334
00:18:35,119 --> 00:18:38,359
Speaker 1: or five susophone players with every incoming freshman class. To

335
00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:41,200
Speaker 1: admissions officers who must know about these quotas, there could

336
00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:43,359
Speaker 1: be nothing more rare and desirable than a girl who

337
00:18:43,440 --> 00:18:48,440
Speaker 1: plays the susaphone. That must be the holy grail of admissions, diversity, scholarships,

338
00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:51,680
Speaker 1: and admissions courting abound. Dad never missed an opportunity to

339
00:18:51,720 --> 00:18:53,960
Speaker 1: point out the susaphone at parades and football games. He

340
00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:56,600
Speaker 1: would count them while listening to music. He always an

341
00:18:56,600 --> 00:18:59,760
Speaker 1: ear out for one, and as I approached college age.

342
00:18:59,800 --> 00:19:02,480
Speaker 1: He desperately bribed me to learn to play this instrument.

343
00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:04,879
Speaker 1: He figured there were only three buttons, it couldn't be

344
00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:06,960
Speaker 1: that hard. Well I never did learn to play it,

345
00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:09,560
Speaker 1: and neither have you. There my sisters. My sister and

346
00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:12,200
Speaker 1: I got into and graduated from college just fine without

347
00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:14,879
Speaker 1: the susophone. And I'm sure our youngest sister will. I

348
00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:17,040
Speaker 1: thought you might like to hear about a parent pressing

349
00:19:17,080 --> 00:19:19,640
Speaker 1: his daughters to break with those rigid gender roles, even

350
00:19:19,680 --> 00:19:21,879
Speaker 1: if it was for a break in tuition prices instead

351
00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:26,040
Speaker 1: of social change. Our musical greatness, and Amelia, it does

352
00:19:26,040 --> 00:19:28,760
Speaker 1: sound like we have very very similar fathers. And I'm

353
00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:34,919
Speaker 1: lucky that my father, I don't think, knows what a superphone. Um, well,

354
00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:38,439
Speaker 1: I've got one here from a listener in response to

355
00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:42,720
Speaker 1: an owner podcast on what constitutes an eating disorder, and

356
00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:45,119
Speaker 1: she says, I used to be a binge eater and

357
00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:48,000
Speaker 1: have now been struggling with bulimia for almost two years,

358
00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:51,120
Speaker 1: although I've avoided actually calling it that up until now.

359
00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:54,120
Speaker 1: I'm currently seeking help and getting better slowly, but surely.

360
00:19:54,800 --> 00:19:56,680
Speaker 1: I was so glad that you talked about the shame

361
00:19:56,760 --> 00:20:00,000
Speaker 1: involved in bolimia and other eating disorders, because that's exact

362
00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:02,760
Speaker 1: actually what it is. As someone who's been struggling with

363
00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:05,000
Speaker 1: an eating disorder, I would just like to say that

364
00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:07,240
Speaker 1: the best thing anyone can do who has a friend

365
00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:09,879
Speaker 1: that they're worried about is just be there for that person.

366
00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:12,840
Speaker 1: Like you both pointed out, there are a whole slew

367
00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:16,600
Speaker 1: of issues which underlie any eating disorder, issues surrounding control,

368
00:20:16,720 --> 00:20:20,640
Speaker 1: self image, perfectionism, et cetera. Some people are less responsive

369
00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:23,680
Speaker 1: to confrontation than others, but often saying that someone actually

370
00:20:23,680 --> 00:20:25,920
Speaker 1: cares about you and it's concerned for your well being

371
00:20:26,080 --> 00:20:29,000
Speaker 1: is very nice. I'm not saying that that alone will

372
00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:31,840
Speaker 1: solve all the problems that someone with eating disorders has,

373
00:20:32,119 --> 00:20:34,640
Speaker 1: but dealing with an eating disorder is a very solitary thing.

374
00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:37,560
Speaker 1: In my experience, You tend to isolate yourself, and having

375
00:20:37,600 --> 00:20:39,480
Speaker 1: someone to talk to you can help ease the feeling

376
00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:41,600
Speaker 1: of isolation. At the same time, as you to point

377
00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:43,439
Speaker 1: it out, no one should feel that they have to

378
00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:45,879
Speaker 1: play therapist for their friend, but the person is willing,

379
00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:48,399
Speaker 1: it can be very helpful just to support them in

380
00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:50,680
Speaker 1: the process of finding help. Admitting that you have an

381
00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:53,600
Speaker 1: eating disorder at all is very difficult. And shameful, and

382
00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:57,760
Speaker 1: finding help can be even more overwhelming. So thank you

383
00:20:57,840 --> 00:21:01,640
Speaker 1: so much from UH for the advice from someone who knows.

384
00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:04,280
Speaker 1: And if you would like to contact us, It's Mom

385
00:21:04,359 --> 00:21:08,080
Speaker 1: Stuff how stuff Work dot com or contact everyone on

386
00:21:08,119 --> 00:21:11,600
Speaker 1: our Facebook page, or follow us on Twitter. We got

387
00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:14,560
Speaker 1: a Twitter It's Mom Stuff podcast. And then lastly, we

388
00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:17,440
Speaker 1: also have a blog and it's stuff Mom Never Told You,

389
00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:23,320
Speaker 1: and it's at how stuff works dot com for more

390
00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:25,679
Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics. Because it how

391
00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:30,160
Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Want more how stuff works, check

392
00:21:30,200 --> 00:21:32,320
Speaker 1: out our blogs on the house stuff works dot com

393
00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:39,560
Speaker 1: home page. Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand

394
00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:41,760
Speaker 1: twelve camera. It's ready, are you