When Starre Varten sat down to write her book The Stronger Sex: What Science Tells Us about the Power of the Female Body, she came to the project with two things: an intellectual thesis and a very personal bodily story. In this episode, we talk with Starre about how both mind and body fueled her creative practice. We also talk about how what began as an article became a book, how to turn toward the part of the book you might rather turn away from, how an outsider’s perspective can help us see our project more clearly and what it really means to be strong.

Starre Vartan is a science writer who was raised in a family of creatives and medical professionals. She grew up in New York and now splits her time between the Pacific Northwest and Sydney, Australia. She contributes regularly to Scientific American and National Geographic and has written for CNN, the Washington Post, Slate, and New York magazine, among many others. Her new book, The Stronger Sex: What Science Tells Us about the Power of the Female Body, is a science-backed, myth-busting love letter to the female body—think endurance, immunity, and the kind of strength that doesn’t flex, it lasts.

Starre’s Website: https://starrevartan.com/Her Washington Post story why dancing is good for your body and soul. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/starrevartan/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thecurioushumana

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