Women Tend to Have Better Sense of Touch Due to Smaller Finger Size

[The Straight Story]

Women Tend to Have Better Sense of Touch Due to Smaller Finger Size

ScienceDaily (Dec. 28, 2009) — People who have smaller fingers have a finer sense of touch, according to new research in the Dec. 16 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. This finding explains why women tend to have better tactile acuity than men, because women on average have smaller fingers.

"Neuroscientists have long known that some people have a better sense of touch than others, but the reasons for this difference have been mysterious," said Daniel Goldreich, PhD, of McMaster University in Ontario, one of the study's authors. "Our discovery reveals that one important factor in the sense of touch is finger size."

To learn why the sexes have different finger sensitivity, the authors first measured index fingertip size in 100 university students. Each student's tactile acuity was then tested by pressing progressively narrower parallel grooves against a stationary fingertip -- the tactile equivalent of the optometrist's eye chart. The authors found that people with smaller fingers could discern tighter grooves.

"The difference between the sexes appears to be entirely due to the relative size of the person's fingertips," said Ethan Lerner, MD, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, who is unaffiliated with the study. "So, a man with fingertips that are smaller than a woman's will be more sensitive to touch than the woman."

The authors also explored why more petite fingers are more acute. Tinier digits likely have more closely spaced sensory receptors, the authors concluded. Several types of sensory receptors line the skin's interior and each detect a specific kind of outside stimulation. Some receptors, named Merkel cells, respond to static indentations (like pressing parallel grooves), while others capture vibrations or movement.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091215173017.htm

[kestrel91316]

1. Probably why there are no board-certified surgeons with hands like

my ex-DBF's: short, stubby fingers and fat hands that made mine look positively skeletal.

[CTyankee]

2. Then why aren't there more female surgeons?

I've often wondered that. I had a female surgeon a few years back and her practice was considered the best in general surgery in the area...people fought to get into it when they needed certain surgeries. She was very well regarded by women and did a lot of breast surgeries, several of my friends among them. She often treated nuns, interestingly...my guess was that they were in her office because of breast cancer and preferred a woman to a man...

[kestrel91316]

3. Not sure about why that is in human medicine - probably still has to do with

the culture of human surgical practice and its residual sexism (which will fade further over time as even more women enter medicine), and women's tendency to choose less rigorous specialties due to their biological clock. In the case of orthopedic surgery, of course, physical strength is a legitimate qualifier - IIRC most human orthopods resemble linebackers.

In veterinary medicine, new small animal surgeons are predominently women just like new DVMs in general. Equine and food animal surgeons are more men, but there it's the size/strength thing again.

[hayu_lol]

4. Another variable might be...

that more men than women are in labor-intensive occupations. These occupations tend to build callus pads on hands and fingers. Sense of touch would be reduced.

[CTyankee]

5. Why is it that women started going into veterinary medicine in such numbers?

IT seems like little girls wanting to be a vet got very popular very fast over the last 20 years or so...

[kestrel91316]

6. Girls always WANTED to go into veterinary medicine but until civil rights

laws were passed in the 60's and then aggressively enforced in the 70's, women weren't ALLOWED into veterinary schools. All you ever saw prior to the class of 1980 was the token one or two farm girls allowed in for the guys and professors to have somebody to kick around. Seriously.

Then after a bunch of sex discrimination lawsuits, professional schools of all sorts in the US (medical, law, architecture, dental, veterinary, etc etc) opened their doors to women. And it turned out that we scored so much higher than men in the rankings that it wasn't but about 10-15 years before women were >50% of vet school classes. Now we are probably 70% of graduates.

My class (1982) was only the 3rd at my school to let women compete fairly - we were about 35% women. Just a year or two my profession passed a milestone: half of ALL US veterinarians were women. And with the old guys dying and the new women entering, the balance is tipping even more.

[CTyankee]

7. So did the guys just leave? Wonder where they went...

not that I care that much. But I do worry that whenever women predominate in a formerly male dominated profession, the pay goes down...

[kestrel91316]

8. Well, the men don't apply in as great numbers anymore maybe because they

don't like having to compete on a level playing field? It makes one wonder.

Veterinary pay has never kept up with inflation from Day One, and even less so now that women predominate. Which is disgusting to me. And so that also drives men elsewhere. But even when they apply in great numbers, the women just seem to have better grades, better recommendations, better GRE scores, and better resumes. For whatever reason.

When you're Number Two you have to try harder, and women who want to be vets try the hardest of all.

[CTyankee]

9. So has the profession become more, er, humane as a result of the influx of women?

It would seem like a male who wants to be a vet and who also values feminist ideals would find it a perfect spot to be. There are some good guys out there...do you see this happening?

[kestrel91316]

10. The increasing interest in veterinary ethics started when women entered the

profession in numbers, but I think it was as a result of increasing societal concerns, and not the presense of women per se.

Sadly, my profession appears to be dominated my Republicans, and I don't know if THAT will change in the coming years. I sure hope so. But the men have to be ok working with women and working FOR them, so the true neanderthals might be the ones who don't even apply to vet school anymore.......

[CTyankee]

11. I think I can understand the republican thing. Perhaps these women and men

feel a bit like entrepreneurs and that seems to be their thing, at least when they are young.

Otherwise, I don't understand it, I really don't...

[kestrel91316]

12. I am an entrepreneur, but obviously the whole Republican thing escapes me, lol.

I confess I was a Libertarian temporarily, but quit when I found out they opposed state regulation and licensure of professionals, and supported any Tom, Dick, or Harry hanging out a shingle and calling themselves a doctor or lawyer or veterinarian.

I could NEVER be a Republican. They oppose full personhood for women, IMHO.

[CTyankee]

13. Then why do some female veterinarians become/stay REpublican? nt

[mainer]

14. I'll tell you why. Long hours, not conducive to family life.

Women are every bit as capable as men when it comes to the technical and intellectual skills. But god, the residency training for surgeons calls for killer hours. Five years just for general surgery, plus additional years for specialty surgery. I know of many women who considered going into surgery -- but decided they didn't want to completely cut themselves off from the possibility of having a family.