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Men should simply identify as woman. Then they'd live just as long. They really have only themselves to blame.
This particular research isn't really that applicable to humans and of course the title is click-bate. THAT SAID...
The overall picture we have of human physiology is that the male body is sort of like an overclocked computer. You get a lot more immediate power, but at higher risk of breakdown and shorter lifespan over all. Meanwhile, the female body is optimized for longevity, efficiency, and survival.
I thought that men were shorter lived because on average, they were more likely to take risks and die in accidents?
Did some reading, add on "suicide attempts increase in men as they get older" and higher chance of heart attacks.
Biologically, it's also present in a lot species. As we all know, to keep a population going, you need an abundance of females, but very few males.
Their jobs are simple in reproduction, and nature has them designed to fall out sooner,
"In some species, males allocate more resources to sexual competition and reproduction, which, scientists say, could lead to bigger sex differences in lifespans.
"Another possible explanation for the sex difference is that female survival increases when males provide some or all of the parental care" - This second point doesn't attribute to humans, as unironically - male spouses are the number one cause of death to pregnant women.
The little laugh I have is literally everything points to men being overpopulated, cumbersome and expendable, so it amuses me they have to counteract it by putting THEMSELVES on a pedestal as if we could never live without them.
This second point doesn't attribute to humans, as unironically - male spouses are the number one cause of death to pregnant women.
Honestly I've always wondered about this. Does any other species kill its own pregnant females? I know infanticide is common in some to establish new dominant males cubs, but like...are there male tigers or wolves out there killing pregnant tigers or wolves?
Honestly, not that I know of,
I suspect it's because pregnant females give off a different kind of scent (asides from being usually protective of their offspring), that registers them as off-radar (as how could a species get any growth if pregnant females were killed for mating rights constantly).
Sheer speculation though, so please take with with a grain of salt
The article does mention how men are more likely to die in accidents or by suicide, and how they drink and smoke more heavily. But females of other species also live longer (for example, apes and old world monkeys), leading some to search for biological factors that could be influencing lifespan.
Interesting! I know this is somewhat off-topic, but this article made me think about it: I recall being astounded reading about the age discrepancies of orcas. In the wild, male orcas can live to 30-60 years, but the females can live 50-90 years! It really gets me wondering about how different human society might look if humans had similar lifespans.
Also, I will admit sometimes I feel apprehensive whenever I see research investigating the life spans between males and females. Paranoid or not, I can't help but to think that some male scientists out there are trying to figure out a hack so that men can generally outlive women...
Mind boggling ! I don't think patriarchy would have existed if this difference in life expectancy existed in humans
The Guardian dared to print it, ". . having sperm or eggs was one of the most obvious differences between males and females".
I do not think that some experiment on killfish can explain all the biological difference in men and women, nor that Vitamin D can explain a significant part of the difference, but interesting read.
Also what does " knocking out the production of germ cells" involve ? cause if it is working on testosterone levels maybe this is what explains why men wither less quickly without their "T"
Because, to put it bluntly, they're overall less important for the species. It's an observable fact in nature that males are more expendable. When there's an overabundance of males they cause more harm than good.