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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: PiMac who wrote (33948)	4/7/1999 12:56:00 PM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

You assume that because girls in the US menstruate at 12-13, that this is universal, and has always been the case. In fact, throughout history the age of menarche was more like 16, and remains so in many places, possibly due to poor nutrition. Thus, marriage at age 17 or so made sense, the girl wasn't nubile before that. Further, even if a girl menstruates at 12, that doesn't make her a good candidate for motherhood. The uterus and the pelvic structure aren't ready for the tremendous burden of childbearing. Your point, though, that the best age, physically, for childbearing is far younger than say, 30, is a good one, and I don't have a good answer for it. It is very difficult to integrate being the mother of a young family with having a career.

To: PiMac who wrote (33948)	4/7/1999 8:07:00 PM
From: Dayuhan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

I suspect that the change in marriage habits is not really the cause of the other variations you cite. My guess is that both are byproducts of the industrial revolution and the concurrent exponential increase in the complexity and centralization of societies and the mobility of their members. Obviously the support system offered by small rooted communities is lost, with some effect. What to be done about it is another question altogether; a return to preindustrial ways is neither possible nor desirable. The notion of trying to integrate old agrarian virtues into post-industrial society has often been bruited about, most recently by the New Age types, but few practical methods have emerged. JMO, obviously.