I’ve seen a study which found that the age of puberty (especially female puberty) is dropping rapidly. In 1860 it started around 16.8 and in 2010 it was 10.8. Why is that? Is there any explanation?
In: Biology
The number one answer is nutrition. The two major factors in onset of puberty are genetics and body weight. Prior to the post war era, it wasn’t a guarantee that the average person was getting enough to eat.
This is also a bit more speculative, but it’s very possible that women and girls in the post Kotex era are more likely to be honest about these topics. These are self-reported statistics, which will always have room for error. Even today you’ll get allegedly progressive people clutching their pearls and reaching for the smelling salts at the idea of middle school aged girls experiencing puberty, indicating that it is somehow deviant or oversexualized, like something is wrong with 10 and 11 year old girls for experiencing puberty. They’ll blame abuse, media, or “hormones in the food” with zero evidence. And that’s in a society and era that generally accepts that periods exist and puberty happens when it happens. In a bygone era, something seen as “adult” and “secret” may not have been something girls and their mothers discussed openly. It’s entirely possible that some percentage of girls were starting puberty at 12 but saying 16 because that’s a more “appropriate” age.
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