"It took me a long time to realise that constant change is a defining feature for almost all women in a way it just isn't for men. That, combined with our biological vulnerability, I think is a large part of what has made us develop to be more cooperative, adaptable, able to cope with whatever life throws at us and so on."
I agree with everything you said. It's annoying to be so biologically vulnerable, as you aptly put it, but it is indeed why we are so cooperative, caring, and resilient.
"There are a number of men in my life who I have huge love and respect for but far fewer than the women I know. And even the admirable men I can think of mostly seem much less well rounded than the women; they might be good at one or two things but they're not holding it all together in the same way, probably partly because they don't have to."
Agree, there is a certain two-dimensionality to them. My H, who is reading a lot of feminist literature these days, says this about men himself, and he sees it in himself too. He calls it emotional stuntedness and often quotes bell hooks: “The first act of violence that patriarchy demands of males is ...that they engage in acts of psychic self-mutilation, that they kill off the emotional parts of themselves.”
Yes, I'd rather have painful periods for 40 years, the dangers and exhaustion of pregnancy and childbirth, and even the shit menopause than be so alienated from my interior and from other people.