In men the index finger is usually shorter than the ring finger, but in most women it's the other way around, although in some women the fingers are of equal length. In mice the digit ratio corresponds to the female-male hormonal balance in the womb during the week digits form; androgen apparently produces a longer ring finger.

Researchers study these ratios to see if they can serve as markers for certain human attributes. So far in 2012, studies have found that girls with a masculine ratio do not get lost as easily; that a feminine ratio in heterosexual girls is associated with bulimia; and that boys with more masculine ratios have more typically masculine facial features.

2 Comments

1. 1. marclevesque 11:40 AM 6/30/12

   "In men the index finger is usually shorter than the ring finger, but in most women it's the other way around, although in some women the fingers are of equal length."
   
   I long for the day when that will state "in x % of men the index finger is shorter than the ring finger, and in x % ... "
   
   And that men and women are understood and graphed as an M rather than as a strict dichotomy
   
   "According to the ISNA definition above, 1 percent of live births exhibit some degree of sexual ambiguity.[77] Between 0.1% and 0.2% of live births are ambiguous enough to become the subject of specialist medical attention, including surgery to disguise their sexual ambiguity."
   -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersex
   
   "Reexamining the Binary Construction of Sexuality"
   -- www.law.yale.edu/documents/pdf/sela/SELA09_Saldivia_Eng_WV.pdf

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2. 2. promytius 01:13 PM 6/30/12

   That's not all the length of your index finger predicts.

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