The Mystery of Zamia's Menstrual Cycle

Because the lion-shape is typically a gift only bestowed upon men, Zamia is unique and has undoubtedly faced many unknowns in her short life. However, it seems strange that Zamia was concerned about her inability to take the shape after being healed by Dawoud (see pg.131) when she later calmly explains to Adoulla that she can’t take the shape during menstruation (see pg. 278). Why would she be concerned in the first place if she knew she was on her period? And furthermore as discussed in class, it would appear Zamia had a very short period (about 3 days). Inspired by today's class discussion on Zamia's menstruation and how it relates to her ability to take the lion-shape I have decided to put my biology training to good use and come up with a hypothesis about why Zamia couldn't take the shape after Mouw Awa's attack. Please note that while this is based on human physiology principles it is simply a fictional explanation of a fictional physiological problem.

First, assuming Zamia was actually on her period it is possible that this was all just very coincidental timing. Her period must have started sometime after the attack but before she awoke the first time. Because she wouldn’t necessarily have been immediately aware that she was menstruating this would explain her confusion over not being able to take the shape upon awakening and would result in her accusing Dawoud’s magic of taking the shape from her saying, “A magus? You worked your wicked magics on me? O God protect me! The shape has been taken from me! Better to have died!” (131). Her continued fear that she wouldn't be able to take the shape again can be interpreted to be her fear of being punished by God for using "wicked magics". It would then follow that Zamia had a very short period and would in fact be able to take the lion shape once it was done.

Testosterone conversion to Estradiol through Aromatase

Menstrual Cycle

But how does menstruation prevent Zamia taking the shape? Perhaps because only men are typically shape-changers the key to taking the shape involves testosterone. Interestingly, testosterone can be converted to estradiol using the enzyme Aromatase, which is how testosterone is normally produced in the human body. In contrast, in women estradiol levels are elevated between periods during the menstrual cycle, which could theoretically result in more conversion of estradiol into testosterone. I therefore propose that although testosterone is more prevalent in men, it is actually estradiol that is necessary in order to take the shape, and male shape-changers produce estradiol by converting it to testosterone through the Aromatase enzyme. This means that when Zamia is on her period, her estradiol levels are too low to take the shape, but during the rest of the cycle there is more than enough estradiol to enable the change.

Joking hypotheses aside, this truly is the strangest, most random thing I think I’ve ever read in a novel but I believe it is simply due to lack of clarification. It has the potential to create interesting problems in the plot of the novels but doesn't seem wholly relevant. Additionally, it definitely enforces the idea that women are impure during their periods, which is not the most progressive concept and doesn’t seem to fit into the overall novel very well. Perhaps in the future Ahmed will clarify exactly what all of this was supposed to mean.