Finger Length, Sports Ability, and Lesbians
Women whose ring fingers are longer than their index fingers are more likely to have high athletic ability, a new study from King’s College London claims. Interestingly, an earlier study from the University of California-Berkeley showed that lesbians also tend to have longer ring fingers.
Does this mean all lesbians are athletes? Or all female athletes are lesbians? While some might hope so, this is clearly not the case. It may, however, help explain why the number of lesbians in sports seems to be out of proportion to our number in the general population. (I can’t seem to find any definite stats on this, though. Leave a comment if you can.)
The earlier study hypothesized that hormones in the womb affected finger length and sexual orientation. The London study, however, found that genetics, not womb environment, was the main factor in determining finger length. One could speculate that this means lesbians who match the long-ring-finger pattern are also more likely to have long-ring-fingered and athletic bio-daughters. (The study did not look at whether ring finger length in men indicated athletic prowess.)
Filed under: Health and Safety, Selves and Identities, Sports
[...] Boys with ring fingers longer than their index fingers tend to do better in math, according to a new study by psychologists at the University of Bath. (Thanks, Slashdot.) This would be nothing more than an interesting tidbit that might make me check my son’s hands next time I cut his nails, except that it follows other research indicating that women with longer relative ring fingers are more likely to have high athletic ability and to be lesbians. Gay men follow this pattern as well, but somehow only when they have several older brothers. The Bath study also concluded that shorter ring fingers on girls predict better verbal skills. Higher testosterone levels in the womb appear to be the cause of longer ring fingers and their attendant traits. [...]