6 lines
2.5 KiB
Markdown
6 lines
2.5 KiB
Markdown
#rs/class/hea150 #rs/discussion
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1. I watched the video titled "What Does Biological Sex Look Like In The Brain?" by Lisa Mosconi. This talk went over many of the effects that menopause has on women's brains and differences between men's and women's brains in middle age. The testosterone levels in men usually slowly decrease over time and don't have any sharp falloffs that might cause side effects. For women on the other hand, estrogen levels sharply fall during menopause usually around their early 50s. Mosconi describes how estrogen levels and the brain are linked and how estrogen is important for how much energy the brain produces. When estrogen levels decrease, overall brain energy levels do as well which can cause memory loss, headaches and other mental side effects. She also talks about the increased risk of dementia from this, since decreased estrogen levels can lead to an increased amount of amyloid plaques in the brain which is a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease.
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2. I read the story "9 Young People on How They Found Out They Are Intersex" from Teen Vogue. Two of the stories that stood out to me were those of Cat and Irene since both found out about the term "intersex" later in their lives. Not only feeling like they have to hide from others, but doing so because everyone tells them that there is something "wrong" with their bodies is awful, especially when finding others experiencing the same things can be so challenging. I understand if operations are necessary to survive or given with consent by the person receiving them, but it is so strange to me the number of unnecessary purely cosmetic operations that were described in many of the stories. Even if they might be more challenging to perform later in life, it seems like if there is no need to do them the person receiving them should have the choice of whether they happen.
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3. One community that I am a part of is my high school, and it seems to me like we are better educated about topics around sex and gender than other high schools, but that there is still missing knowledge. There are sex-ed units in some of the science classes at my school, although they are often short and cover the same small amount information as previous years. We also have a teen health center, which provides many services and information about these topics and helps to educate the students about many of these issues. I do think that there is more that could be done though since most kids don't pay much attention to these lessons. |