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American Morning

Talk with Sibling Hosts of 'Berman & Berman: For Women Only'

Aired April 11, 2002 - 09:49   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: When they talk about sex, women certainly listen. Laura and Jennifer Berman are best-selling authors, doctors, who happen to be sisters, who deliver straight talk to women about their sexual health. And their new TV talk show, "Berman & Berman: For Women Only," debuts Monday.

Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. LAURA BERMAN, THERAPIST: Welcome back to "Berman & Berman." I'm Laura.

DR. JENNIFER BERMAN, UROLOGIST: And I'm Jennifer.

We've been talking candidly about women and sexuality. We want you to know that your sexual journey is always changing. It's never static, and there is no norm. It is what feels right, but it can also change as we change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: And joining us now are the straight-talk Berman sisters, Dr. Jennifer Berman, a urologist, and Dr. Laura Berman, a therapist. We'll also be taking your calls, and that number once again is 212- 643-0077. That's 212-643-0077.

Welcome back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Welcome.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

ZAHN: Let me ask you this. How much of a problem did you have selling this idea when you went to executives and said, you know, I think women in this country reached a comfort level that they can talk about sex.

L. BERMAN: We actually were approached. We were approached by many people who were interested in putting this out there. I think we've reached a point socially now that women understand and expect that they deserve to be sexually satisfied, that they're entitled to their sexual response, and they want real information that's successful and scientific as well. ZAHN: What has changed, do you think, in the last four or five years since you all started work?

J. BERMAN: Women's attitude. In terms of their entitlement, but also there is heightened awareness about women's sexuality it's not in our heads there are real medical basis for sexual function complaint. That's really been with only in the last two to three years that the research has focused on women's physiological or medical problems, and certainly the mind/body approach that we take is really what revolutionized it.

ZAHN: There's always a lot of talk on that front. But this week in particular, there's been a lot of focus on women's fertility. "Time" magazine has cover story, relating to a new book that's out, that essentially said, 27 percent is the age in which a woman's chance of pregnancy begins to decline. At 42, 90 percent of a women's eggs are abnormal. She has only a 7.8 percent chance of having a baby without using donor eggs.

So let's start with our first e-mail. This one comes from Pam, and she writes, "I went into menopause at the age of 37, no real reason at all, never had any health problems and still do not years later. My body simply decided to 'shut off.' If a woman very much wants a child, she shouldn't count on being able to do it when she is older."

J. BERMAN: Certainly, to go into menopause at 37 is absolutely not the norm. I mean, that's called premature ovarian failure. So it's really an unfortunate, horrible thing that happened, but that's certainly not the norm.

In terms of eggs, 42 is the age where donor eggs are recommended, that you certainly shouldn't conceive on your own. But I guess the point is people need to be given the information now, and women in their mid to late 30s that aren't married and do want to have children should possibly consider freezing their eggs. And that way, you know, with the technology of modern medicine they can have babies later in life.

So I don't totally agree with everything this women says in her book, but women need the information to be informed.

ZAHN: Let's move to phone call from Mariane (ph) from Florida.

Good morning, Mariane.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, my name the Mariane Arnelle from Jacksonville, Florida, and I'm 43, and I'm having my second child. I have had my first one at 40, and I'm doing great, and I'm like 22 weeks now, due in August.

ZAHN: Congratulations. Good for you.

J. BERMAN: For every women story like the first, there's a story, you know, such as hers. In fact, the little boy that was on just before us was a frozen embryo. ZAHN: Oh really?

J. BERMAN: Yes.

ZAHN: That shows you how far this whole fertility business is coming.

J. BERMAN: Absolutely.

ZAHN: We're going to move on to another phone call from Carolyn from New York. Good morning, Carolyn.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning.

ZAHN: Good morning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe I'm 41, and thank God I got pregnant after four years of trying, with all kind so medical intervention. And it's absolutely luck, not your birthright to have child late in life, and woman are not informed of this. My gynecologist never told me that. You have to hear it on television and movies, about your biological clock. But I'm just very, very lucky. Scientist can be wonderful, but they can't perform miracles, and I'm just very lucky to have finally conceived.

ZAHN: Don't you think part of this is that young women are fed a lot of very mixed messages about full lives, career tracks, mommy tracks, all that stuff. It's very complicated.

L. BERMAN: It's very complicated, and also one of the things that's been brought up as these discussions have occurred, and that women in the highest economic echelon and that women who are the most power women are the women who are least likely to get married and least like to have children. I don't know that that has so much to do with fertility as it does choices, and also the fact that there are many men out there who are threatened by very powerful, you know, and strong and successful women. So it's not necessarily because of choice, but because of absence of options.

ZAHN: I want to address another e-mail here from Laura Prevattz, and she writes, "Could you please explain to me why the women's body in her twenties is at its peak for child bearing, and why emotionally a woman isn't ready until her thirties."

I think that's pretty a good question. Not all 20-year-olds, as we know, are prepared to be young mothers.

L. BERMAN: And adolescence is really a more modern phenomenon. Hundreds of years ago, we weren't living past 35 or 40, so our reproductive years were really our adulthood. Girls, you know, were getting married at 13-15 years old.

J. BERMAN: I mean, reproductive anatomy, as Laura said, a woman can conceive, a child can conceive at the age of 12 or 13.

In terms of the peek of fertility, is probably mid 20s, because that's when you're the healthiest and the eggs are less mutated by that time. Once you get into your later 30s, you have all that Diet Coke, and caffeine and everything else on board.

ZAHN: Plus the bags under your eyes, all the jobs you're probably working at that time in your life.

L. BERMAN: But it's true that emotionally, especially in today's modern era. Children are children longer. Adolescents are adolescents longer. And by the time we reach our 20s, we very well may not feel ready to take on the responsibility of a child, and that's a very real concern, because biology hasn't caught up with society yet.

ZAHN: Let's move to another e-mail. This one from Michelle. She writes, "I am 42, and have been going through fertility treatments for three years. If only I knew about the implications of trying to conceive after 40 sooner, I would not have waited."

You hear that a lot.

J. BERMAN: You hear that a lot. And then for every women with that story. For every woman with that story, there's a story like your caller.

ZAHN: I feel lucky, you know, too. One at about 40 and one a little ways past that.

But tell us a little bit about what is going on with fertility treatments now. And how advances have changed the way women can look at all this.

J. BERMAN: I think -- I mean, and again, it's giving women information is what is really the problem here. It not at it can't happen. The medical technology is such that women can have babies into their 40s and even 50s, whether it be with a frozen egg or a donor egg. And the ability to inseminate eggs under the microscope and freeze embryos has really revolutionized fertility treatments.

ZAHN: One last question before we let you go, what's the most common complaint you hear about their sex lives?

L. BERMAN: Well, I think the most common complaint is that women haven't had the information they need to live full sexual lives. There's a range of complaints that women have, from low desire to difficulty responding to pain, but the point is, is that women need information, they need permission, they need education, they need choices, whether it's about their about sexuality or fertility.

J. BERMAN: And probably low desire is the most -- lack of interest in sex is the most common complaint.

ZAHN: I think that applies to both sexes. America is very tired.

L. BERMAN: Sleep is the sex of the 21st century. And sex is often comprised of sleep now. ZAHN: OK. Dr. Jennifer Berman, Laura Berman, good luck to both of you with you're new show.

I hope you never get in a fight.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We did this morning.

ZAHN: Your sisters, enjoying holding down a TV show together.

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