Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: Simulated on 04/06/2007 22:51:17
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Does sex stunt yourr growth?
JW
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Well, there's a certain part of me that it most certainly does NOT stunt! [:D]
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So you just continue growing? LoL, I mean all thoughs people out there that get raped. They can just live a normal life physically, but not mentally?
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Eh? I don't think there's any particular effect documented of sex on growth (although I may be wrong).
I can imagine that some of the STD's you can get from sex might well stunt the growth of someone who hadn't finished growing already... and I think there is a view that teenage pregnancy (a logical consequence of teenage sex, after all..) can have detrimental physical consequences on the incompletely matured female body.
I don't know whether testosterone levels are affected by sex, although it seems believeable, or what effects that might have on growth, which also seems plausible since changes in testosterone levels are after all intimately tied up with the growth spurt young men go through at puberty.
On the rape thing... there's a lot of stuff out there on the effects of rape, I've never heard any that suggested physical effects beyond those of the physical violence generally involved, and the risk of STDs and pregnancy. Rape, unsurprisingly, can have pretty devastating mental consequences... although I think "They can just live a normal life physically, but not mentally?" is a pretty sweeping statement, like anything else people respond to sexual violence as individuals and I remember reading a piece a few months ago by a woman who'd been the victim of a sexual attack as a child and was very firm about the fact that it *hadn't* been the end of her life, it *didn't* define who she was, and that she felt it was unhelpful for the victims for the assumption to be that they would never be the same again.
Fortunately, I wouldn't know...
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Rape, I can tell you, for some time... it effects both physical and mental attitudes as well as your enjoyment and your un-enjoyment of sex.. And it most certainly brings in the love factor way more predominantly as a must in order to enjoy sex or even sexual feelings..in any relationship! I am 46 and was a small child who grew up with that abuse and it still very much effects me in how I look at relationships the opposite sex and myself.. Even working out a lot of feelings still leaves millions of them opened up lying just under the surface waiting for the unexpected words or thoughts to drag them all up again... You Never forget.. you never do.. You just have to make some real choices and face some things that sometimes you just don't want to face.. I hope with your age that life has been great for you.. and Your choices will be good.
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Don't know about sex, but I would have thought that pregnancy might have an influence of female growth - not least because resources might have to be diverted to supporting the foetus where it might otherwise be directed at one's own growth.
From an evolutionary context, one would imagine that a society where sexual maturity (not puberty, but sexual activity and parenthood) would promote an earlier cessation of growth, since earlier parenthood would normally imply a shorter life expectancy, and hence a shorter period of time over which growth is likely to occur (one cannot expect invest in a prolonged juvenile phase where overall life expectancy is short, while if one has extended life expectancy, then the extended juvenile phase would both make a more competitive adult, and would limit overpopulation).
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don't girls usually stop growing shortly after they start menstrating anyway? i did, and my doctor said that was totally normal
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around 15 or 16 I think! Not positive though!
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oh. i was ten when... all that girl stuff started and i stopped growing right around my eleventh birthday
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Thanks for the answers everyone!
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One of my friends (lady) had a growth spurt when she was about 40, just before she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
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Wow that's odd.
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don't girls usually stop growing shortly after they start menstrating anyway? i did, and my doctor said that was totally normal
What age was this?
As Karen stated, it is normal to stop growing in one's late teens, although some people may continue to grow into their early twenties, but puberty can start any time around one's early teens, and for some girls even younger. A lot depends on diet and exercise (deficient diet, e.g. anorexia, or excessive exercise, can both cause menstruation to be delayed or shut down).
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i was ten when my period started and just turned eleven when i stopped growing. very disappointing