vanessa feltz

The human race would have evolved the same if women died before the menopause, Jess because their daughters, carrying the gene for date of cessation of fertility, would already have been born and well on their way to bearing the next generation. It is improvements in peri-natal care, child survival and health care over the whole of life that has enabled large numbers of women to live on past their child-rearing days. It used to be commonplace for men to have several wives consecutively, losing them to childbirth or the hazards of being a woman worn out with constant pregnancies.

Em.. Thank you Jess for the information about menopausal killer whales.

But I wasn't being insensitive and I find your tone patronising.

FFS of course it wasn't meant to be unkind. If some people take offence when none was intended then that's their problem.

Exactly JessM. Thank you

I think the issue that Atqui has is that we can be insensitive and hurt people even if we don't mean it personally. For instance if someone started posting "Irish jokes" - the ones in which the humour rests on the assumption that Irish people are stupid, then they would not, obviously, be meant an attack on a member because we don't know the origins of most members. But I for one (having an extremely clever Irish husband) would find them offensive.This nothing whatever to do with having a sense of humour or not.
papaoscar I'm sure we are all mortified that you are not enjoying this thread.

judthepud the menopause would not have evolved if our ancestors had dropped dead before it happened. It is thought that it evolved to help women successfully rear the last member of their family (because as we know this takes quite a few years) and also help rear grandchildren.
The only other animal to have a menopause that we know if is the Orca and there is research that indicates that the adult sons of older females survive better if their mums are still around!

And I don't think it was meant to be unkind to anyone.

Atqui, I can understand what you are saying, but on here we don't know what you look like, and therefore we aren't trying to be hurtful to you personally.

So, I don't think you need to take it as a personal, hurtful remark.

I know you didn't say that, you just didn't think it was funny, but it wasn't aimed at you.

Aka, Nonu and Lona: I too have a sense of fun , but unkind comments about body shape/size are a form of bullying. Before it was fashionable to have a big bust , I suffered comments such as 'bet she wouldn't hit her nose if she fell over'- usually from men.these sort have remarks have left me with a very negative body image even after all these years.

Stand your ground papaoscar and 'man-up*

Poor Vanessa. She always opens her mouth to put her foot in it!

My DDs would be horrified if I had suggested this! Which I wouldn't, much as I adore all my GCs. There is a time for everything and then that time is gone. I think that Stone Age grannies would rarely have passed 40 and didn't get to the stage of menopause.

Personally speaking, I haven't much in the way of female hormones left to do the business. Thanks Anastrozole!

Why are you deserting papaoscar who knows which direction this thread might go in, and as yet you don't seem to have contributed to "a jolly debate" perhaps if you did the thread may take another direction, they often do............

Thank goodness for small mercies...

Well, shiver me timbers! Here I am looking forward to a jolly debate about Vanessa's twitterings or whatever, and instead I find myself deeply submerged in a sea of motherly 'creme de la creme', as it were. Faced with the prospect of a heavy broadside from flotillas of breast-feeding grannies, I strike my colours and surrender, ladies, and will make a dash for the lifeboats. Bye, bye!

Oh I'm quite well endowed Atqui and I hope I have a sense of fun too.

Well breasts will lactate if stimulated by a newborn sucking. Women have got lactation going for adopted babies, even without ever giving birth.
Stone age grans would have probably lactated almost continuously throughout adult life so v easy for them.

In mine too.

fairly innocuous IMO

Atqui ---sigh !

AKA I presume you don't have the misfortune to have been over endowed in the breast department. Some of us are quite sensitive about having big breasts.I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks your comment is not very funny.

I think that if you can stimulate the breasts either by suckling or with a breast pump, you can kid the brain and initiate milk production. I am not sure if this would work with a menopausal woman though.
I think I would have to resort to Cow and Gate

(should have been 'would she?')

Surely a grandmother couldn't just 'step in', Jess? She wouldn't suddenly start lactating because her grandchild was hungry, could she?

Re breastfeeding, an "amazing but true" story of a friend of mine. Her youngest was found face down in a neighbours pond at 18 months, pronounced DOA at local hospital, then small sign of life and transferred to Great Ormond St. Made it, kept in a coma for a couple of days, seemed to be in almost a state of rage when he was revived. Sister on the ward suggested that he was put to the breast. My friend had breastfed him, but had stopped when he was just over a year, milk had dried up after that. She put him to the breast he, sucked and calmed down, after around a day, her milk came back.

Problem was, he was still wanting to breastfeed when he was 4.

Typical media. Comment reported totally out of context.