Editing Openai/691c85a3-9588-8002-b8be-490af2c3e56c (section)

=== Assistant: Short answer: No, it’s not accurate – biologically or historically. ===
Short answer: No, it’s not accurate – biologically or historically.

And the claim that humans “weren’t designed” to live beyond post-menopause has no scientific basis. It’s a modern myth that keeps being recycled online.

Here’s the clearer, biology-accurate version:

==== 1. Humans have always had the biological capacity to reach post-menopause ====

Archaeology, skeletal records, and demographic reconstructions show many people with ovaries regularly lived into their 50s, 60s, and beyond in pre-industrial societies.

What makes it look like people “died young” is this:
* Child mortality rates were extremely high. This drags down the average lifespan dramatically.
* But if someone survived childhood, pregnancy risks, and infections, it was common to reach 60+.

This is called the mortality curve fallacy: confusing average age at death with typical lifespan for those who survived early-life risks.

==== 2. There is no evidence that the ovaries were ever “designed to shut down before death” ====

Biologically:
* Menopause is part of the ovarian ageing trajectory, not a design flaw.
* Post-ovulatory years appear in humans across time, geography, and culture.
* There are well-established evolutionary theories (e.g. Grandmother hypothesis, intergenerational care models) showing that post-reproductive adults have played valuable biological and social roles in human communities.

==== 3. What the historical data actually show ====

Across ancient and pre-modern populations:
* If someone reached age 30, they often lived another 20–30 years.
* Skeletal remains from hunter-gatherers, medieval communities, and early agricultural societies consistently show adults living into their 60s and sometimes 70s.
* There are documented individuals reaching 80+ long before modern medicine.

So the idea that “people didn’t live past 50 until recently” is a misunderstanding created by statistical averages distorted by early mortality.

==== 4. Why the myth keeps resurfacing ====

Because it:
* oversimplifies biology
* misunderstands historical data
* aligns with outdated, patriarchal narratives about the “purpose” of people with ovaries
* ignores the fact that menopause and post-menopause have been natural human life stages for thousands of years

If you’d like, I can give you a short myth-busting paragraph you can post online in your tone, or a mini graphic caption for a reel debunking this elegantly.