The course analyzes the way that females act female--in terms of evolution by natural selection and the "physiological, ecological and social aspects of women's development from puberty, through reproductive processes such as pregnancy, birth, lactation, to menopause and aging."

Knott says that the goal of the course is to try to explain the life cycle of the female and the aging process as a result of biological maturation.

She says that the other schools have offered similar courses and that Harvard did not have a course about female reproduction.

"The first part sets up evolutionary theory," Knott says. "The middle part goes through sexuality, lactation and parenting, and the end deals with menopause and aging."

Knott says that the course is not a new concept, though she hopes to reach a wider audience with issues that she feels are important to both men and women.

"In a given lecture, I'll talk about what's going on physiologically and then about the evolution and the fact that humans are primates and how they developed," she says. "In every lecture, I talk about both the behavioral and cultural aspects of development."

Knott says that for part of the course she lectures on issues that are pertinent to college students.

"At the end we talk about more current issues, like birth control, stress, female body image issues and eating disorders," she says.