How Sex Hormones Shape the Male & Female Brain | Sarah E. Hill & David Puts | #18

<p>You've been told the pill and the hormonal IUD act "locally," that they barely touch the rest of you. What if science says almost the opposite? Most of us treat hormones as background chemistry for periods and pregnancy, when they are really broadcast signals traveling everywhere blood goes, switching genes on and off in the brain, the muscles, and far beyond the reproductive organs.</p><p>In this episode of The XX Lab, Dr. Sarah Hill sits down with Dr. David Puts, evolutionary anthropologist and neuroendocrinology researcher at Penn State, to explore what hormones actually are, how they shape the brain before birth, the myth of "locally acting" hormones, what the menstrual cycle does to attraction, and how the birth control pill nudges desire and partner choice.</p><p>KEY TAKEAWAYS:</p><p>- Hormones act by binding a receptor that regulates gene expression, changing what a cell makes.</p><p>- A purely "locally acting" hormone does not hold up; if it reaches the bloodstream, it travels.</p><p>- Most women on the hormonal IUD stop ovulating, evidence the hormone reaches systemic levels.</p><p>- Sex hormones shape the brain, not only the reproductive organs, from before birth.</p><p>- CAH and IHH serve as natural experiments for studying prenatal hormone effects on behavior.</p><p>- The "masculine voices when fertile" preference is weaker and less consistent than popular science suggests.</p><p>Timestamps</p><p>Why Men And Women Are So Different (<a href="https://00:00" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">00:00</a>)</p><p>What Hormones Actually Do In Your Body (08:43)</p><p>Is There Really A Locally Acting Hormone (<a href="https://11:07" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">11:07</a>)</p><p>What Sex Hormones Do Besides Reproduction (<a href="https://13:55" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">13:55</a>)</p><p>How Hormones Shape The Developing Brain (<a href="https://18:00" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">18:00</a>)</p><p>CAH And IHH: Nature's Hormone Experiments (<a href="https://33:55" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">33:55</a>)</p><p>What The Menstrual Cycle Does To Attraction (<a href="https://40:09" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">40:09</a>)</p><p>How The Pill Changes Attraction And Libido (<a href="https://49:45" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">49:45</a>)</p><p>How Low Estrogen Affects Attraction (<a href="https://57:32" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">57:32</a>)</p><p>What Anogenital Distance Reveals About You (01:11:52)</p><p>Does Puberty