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Listener Week: Testosterone, Talking to adult children about abuse, Why we dream

Listener Week continues as we bring your stories, ideas and dilemmas to the air.

Listener Week continues on Woman's Hour as we bring your stories, ideas and the issues you want to hear about to the air.

Carola got in touch to ask if we could find out more about the benefits of testosterone for post-menopausal women. Dr Joyce Harper, Professor of Reproductive Science at the Institute for Women鈥檚 Health at University College London, joins Nuala McGovern to discuss the evidence.

When we think about children in situations of domestic abuse, it鈥檚 often young children we think of - but what about adult children? We received a letter from a listener telling us about a dilemma she is facing. After previously being in an abusive relationship with the father of her four adult children, she鈥檚 now considering whether to tell them that their parents鈥 relationship was coercive. Gemma Sherrington, CEO of Refuge, and coercive control expert Dr Gemma Katz join us to discuss the issues around a parent deciding whether to be honest with their grown-up children or continue to protect them from their reality.

Jess wrote in to tell us about a poem she came across on social media about the post-partum period, calling it 鈥渁bsolutely beautiful鈥. She added: 鈥淭here are hundreds of comments across Instagram and TikTok of mothers feeling exactly the same way. Please check it out, I would love to hear more from this poet.鈥 We鈥檝e tracked her down and her name is Amy Williams. She joins us to perform the poem live in the studio.

Listener Sarah Hutchinson wants to know more about dreams. Specifically, why she has been having more vivid, memorable dreams during the recent heatwaves, and whether women鈥檚 experience of dreaming is linked to the menstrual cycle? Sarah joins Nuala along with Caroline Horton, Professor of Sleep and Cognition and director of the DrEAMSLab at Bishop Grosseteste University.

And listener Heather tells us what it was like setting up one of the first dating agencies in the 1980s, aimed at helping people in rural communities find love.

Presented by: Nuala McGovern
Produced by: Sarah Jane Griffiths and Di McGregor

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57 minutes

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  • Tue 5 Aug 2025 10:00

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