Being a Man in the 21st Century (Part 2)

Re:Being a Man in the 21st Century (Part 2) by rtp on Friday October 30, 2009 @04:48PM (#912756)

Not that I disbelieve you or find your post implausible, but do you have a source on that?

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Re:Being a Man in the 21st Century (Part 2) by fnid on Friday October 30, 2009 @07:21PM (#913005)

http://www.psy.fsu.edu/~baumeistertice/goodaboutmen.htm

EXCERPT:

What percent of our ancestors were women?

It’s not a trick question, and it’s not 50%. True, about half the people who ever lived were women, but that’s not the question. We’re asking about all the people who ever lived who have a descendant living today. Or, put another way, yes, every baby has both a mother and a father, but some of those parents had multiple children.

Recent research using DNA analysis answered this question about two years ago. Today’s human population is descended from twice as many women as men.

I think this difference is the single most underappreciated fact about gender. To get that kind of difference, you had to have something like, throughout the entire history of the human race, maybe 80% of women but only 40% of men reproduced.

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Re:Being a Man in the 21st Century (Part 2) by Tichy on Friday October 30, 2009 @08:09PM (#913061)

Thinking about it again, that last statement seems inaccurate: since the world's population is constantly growing (exponentially, I presume), differences in later generations would have a much higher effect than ones in early generations.

If I am not mistaken, that would also refute the argument that the differences would mostly be due to different circumstances in ancient times.

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