Men Have Grown Twice As Much As Women Over Past Century, Study Shows 25
According to a new study published in the journal Biology Letters, men around the world have gained height and weight twice as fast as women over the past century. The Guardian reports: "We're seeing insights into how sexual selection has shaped the male and female body and how improved environments, in terms of food and a lower burden of disease, have freed us from our shackles," said Prof Lewis Halsey at the University of Roehampton. Halsey and his colleagues used data from the World Health Organization, overseas authorities and UK records to see how height and weight have changed with living conditions. The latter was measured by the human development index (HDI), a score based on life expectancy, time in education and per capita income, which ranges from zero to one.
Analysis of records from dozens of countries found that for every 0.2 point increase in HDI, women were on average 1.7cm taller and 2.7kg heavier, while men were 4cm taller and 6.5kg heavier. This suggests that as living conditions improve, both height and weight increase, but more than twice as fast in men than women. To see whether similar trends played out within countries, the researchers delved into historical height records in the UK where HDI rose from 0.8 in 1900 to 0.94 in 2022. During the first half of the century, average female height increased 1.9% from 159cm to 162cm, while average male height rose 4% from 170cm to 177cm. "To put this in perspective, about one in four women born in 1905 was taller than the average man born in 1905, but this dropped to about one in eight women for those born in 1958," Halsey said.
Writing in Biology Letters in a study titled "The sexy and formidable male body: men's height and weight are condition-dependent, sexually selected traits," the scientists speculate that women's sexual preferences may have fueled a trend for taller, more muscular men -- although in an age of obesity, heavy does not necessarily mean muscular. Stature and physique are prime indicators of health and vitality, Halsey said, while sexual selection also favors men who are better able to protect and defend their partners and offspring against others. "Women can find men's height attractive because, potentially, it makes them more formidable, but also because being taller suggests they are well-made," said Halsey. "As they've grown up, they haven't been affected by the slings and arrows of a bad environment, so they've reached more of their height potential. It's an indicator that they're well-made."
Analysis of records from dozens of countries found that for every 0.2 point increase in HDI, women were on average 1.7cm taller and 2.7kg heavier, while men were 4cm taller and 6.5kg heavier. This suggests that as living conditions improve, both height and weight increase, but more than twice as fast in men than women. To see whether similar trends played out within countries, the researchers delved into historical height records in the UK where HDI rose from 0.8 in 1900 to 0.94 in 2022. During the first half of the century, average female height increased 1.9% from 159cm to 162cm, while average male height rose 4% from 170cm to 177cm. "To put this in perspective, about one in four women born in 1905 was taller than the average man born in 1905, but this dropped to about one in eight women for those born in 1958," Halsey said.
Writing in Biology Letters in a study titled "The sexy and formidable male body: men's height and weight are condition-dependent, sexually selected traits," the scientists speculate that women's sexual preferences may have fueled a trend for taller, more muscular men -- although in an age of obesity, heavy does not necessarily mean muscular. Stature and physique are prime indicators of health and vitality, Halsey said, while sexual selection also favors men who are better able to protect and defend their partners and offspring against others. "Women can find men's height attractive because, potentially, it makes them more formidable, but also because being taller suggests they are well-made," said Halsey. "As they've grown up, they haven't been affected by the slings and arrows of a bad environment, so they've reached more of their height potential. It's an indicator that they're well-made."
Nutrition and "Natural" Selection. (Score:5, Interesting)
At first glance there seem to be (at least) two drivers for this IMHO:
Less men die so women have a larger pool of men to select from. Since evolution has them tend towards bigger stronger men, they get the boost.
Likewise women die less too, enlargening the pool of women to select from. Since men tend to choose women smaller / more petite than themselves, this is another evolutionary driver that solidifies the height gap.
A third point would be nutrition. Early plentiful nutrition is proven to enhance body mass and height. Nutrition has improved over most of the last century also causing this.
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At first glance there seem to be (at least) two drivers for this IMHO:
Less men die so women have a larger pool of men to select from. Since evolution has them tend towards bigger stronger men, they get the boost.
Likewise women die less too, enlargening the pool of women to select from. Since men tend to choose women smaller / more petite than themselves, this is another evolutionary driver that solidifies the height gap.
A third point would be nutrition. Early plentiful nutrition is proven to enhance body mass and height. Nutrition has improved over most of the last century also causing this.
I suspect this kind of thing is likely being skewed by the developing world, as the male children are the ones that go out and work, thus supporting the parents in old age, they get the benefits, likewise when there isn't enough to go around the female children tend to have theirs pulled. I.E. when parents don't have enough money to send both kids to school, the girl gets pulled out because she can do menial work. Not hard to see the same thing being done with food, when portions have to be cut back the gir
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*NF-kB
Re:Sex (and so gender) is a spectrum of features (Score:4, Insightful)
Spamming LLM garbage should be an automatic death sentence.
Re: Sex (and so gender) is a spectrum of features (Score:2)
What makes you think this is "LLM garbage"? (Score:2)
I've been on Slashdot for 25 years now and post just about every day on various topics. Why would I post "LLM garbage"? What's the point? Especially if I want a meaningful discussion or contribute something meaningful?
Ok, my turn: ... But you _are_ on slashdot, so that does give you bonus points. Kudos to that. Keep it up. But don't jump to conclusions. And don't call for death-sentences. Grown-ups here don't do that. You're welcome.
You're making a lot of troll noises for a seven-digit slash-toddler *.
* I a
Interesting (Score:5, Interesting)
It always amuses me when I hear women biatch about the fact that "all men are a-holes!", completely ignoring the fact that this is sexual selection by prior generations of women being expressed in modern males.
If you don't want a-holes, stop doinking them?
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Is rape all that common that we'd see any statistically significant impact on gene pool?
Maybe in some hell hole nations where crime and tribal warfare are common, leaving women vulnerable we could see rape drive some shifts to genetics. In such places they are in a kind of death spiral that people can't build wealth because of the destruction, and its difficult to fend off the destroyers without the wealth for fences, sturdy buildings, and weapons. How does the saying go? Something like, "God made men an
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It always amuses me when I hear women biatch about the fact that "all men are a-holes!", completely ignoring the fact that this is sexual selection by prior generations of women being expressed in modern males.
If you don't want a-holes, stop doinking them?
Dark Matter and Female Logic.
Any man who has lived on this planet long enough knows damn well there’s only one of those mysteries worth solving.
Well... (Score:3)
I mean, to an extent yeah, of course? But past a certain point you get to where the guy starts looking intimidating and threatening to you, like he could crush you on a whim. Fear of domestic violence is surely a selective factor as well, and IMHO not well enough appreciated.
Also, IMHO, most straight men really overestimate how much of attraction is appearance-focused, and if they have trouble getting a date, obsess over things like working out rather than becoming a more appealing human being. I know straight men tend to be heavily appearance focused when it comes to women, but things like confidence are hugely important factors in how attractive men come across. It's a mix of factors. Also, whether the guy has enough of a brain to not do things that are a total turnoff. Like, if she doesn't smoke, and you do, maybe try not to smell like an ashtray? If she doesn't drink and you do, maybe don't insist on meeting in a bar? If she's speaking in one language, and you speak multiple, maybe don't speak in a different language than the one she's speaking? If she loves animals, maybe don't talk about hunting? Like, take a clue from her instead of just thinking about yourself, if your goal is to attract her.
Selective factors are always changing. In much of the world, for example, first children per couple dropped, then marriage rates dropped, and now dating rates have dropped as well. Rates of accidental pregnancy are also down. The decision on whether to have a child is now increasingly a personal decision, which would suggest more thought put specifically into genetics, rather than just "OMG this guy is SO hot, let's sleep together! ... Oops!"
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But past a certain point you get to where the guy starts looking intimidating and threatening to you
Since women are infamously attracted to serial killers and horses that threshold is probably going to be something like a great white shark.
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Just like men vary in their attraction, so do women. Believe it or not, the vast majority of women absolutely do not want a serial killer.
In general, for a criminal to seem attractive to any meaningful number of people, there needs to be some sort of arguable heroism to them, or at least a sympathetic element. For example, for people mad at the US healthcare system (or US oligarchy in general), a lot of people have a crush on Luigi Mangione. Or to put it another way: Robin Hood would have had a lot of wome
I am only 5 foot 10 (Score:2)
Oh goody, more bad science reporting (Score:2)
The obvious question that comes up for me in this survey is, did they correct for the possibility that men actually have it better than women, and that's why men grew more? E.g., did they check heights of women in countries where women's rights are better? I'm not saying the result is wrong, but I didn't see any reporting that answers this question, and it was the obvious question that occurred to me. E.g. in some countries included in the survey, women take a huge caregiving burden on average compared to m
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I see the contrary; the article is more honest reporting than everything in the last decade or so. You see, every difference is a result of an evil social construct run by (white) men. I am not trolling; this is the official position about everything in our society. At every level.
Any other explanation, particularity one that is rooted in (evolutionary) biology is cancelled. Often with violence. Anywhere in the western academia including the biology departments.
In fact, I fully expected the article to claim
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They discovered the average penis length was longer, by 1/4 inch. Although, this was a cross-country comparison, not before-and-after, so the difference might have existed when women's rights were equally poor.
Another change to the human body: It's well-known that female average breast size has increased by one (Western) cup size in countries eating mostly red meat.
Yeah? (Score:2)
This is noticable in watching old TV shows (Score:1)
I was watching some old TV shows for a while and I noticed that the men seemed so slender. I thought it was some kind of scaling issue with my TV, the 4:3 format show didn't scale right to a 16:9 screen. I later watched some podcast where the host commented on how much thinner people were in the past, and it was quite visible among the male cast of most every TV show made since the early days of color television. That tells me this isn't exactly subtle, and that the time frame for this change to be visib