84. Cat Bohannon on Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution (S6E8)

You know the story: Eve came from Adam's rib--a variation on a theme. Science has believed some version of that for centuries, treating the female body as simply a lesser version of the male body.

The belief in this story means researchers have long excluded female bodies from studies because hormones make the data "messier”--and besides, the thinking goes, bodies are bodies, regardless of gender.  The result is a massive blind spot in medicine, built on the assumption that male-as-default was good enough.

Turns out it's not that simple. It's not even close.

In this episode, Cat Bohannon, author of  Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Evolution  joins us to explain how the female body evolved as its own ingenious system, not as a variation on the male one. 

Cat is gifted at explaining complicated science in a way that anyone can understand, and she makes a compelling case for embracing research into diverse bodies because it will benefit us all. 

REFERENCES:

Once again, Kate Manne’s  Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny comes up in conversation.

There is also a teen version of Cat Bohannon’s book: Eve (Adapted for Young Adults): How the Female Body Shaped Human Evolution

Here is a link to Cat Bohannon’s appearance on The Daily Show.