Are Men with Longer Index Fingers Less Likely to Get Prostate Cancer?

[Borek]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11880415

A British Journal of Cancer study found men whose index finger was longer than their ring finger were significantly less likely to develop...

prostate cancer.

 

[The legend]

I'M IN LUCK!
YAY!

 

[drizzle]

Is it even normal to have an index finger longer than the ring finger?
It's an inhuman characteristic!


Haha, reminds me of a joke - "check your gender: if your index finger is longer than your ring finger, your a guy!"

Funny thing I checked. :shy:

 

[The legend]

Is it even normal to have an index finger longer than the ring finger?
It's an inhuman characteristic!


Haha, reminds me of a joke - "check your gender: if your index finger is longer than your ring finger, your a guy!"

Funny thing I checked. :shy:

LOL!

 

[BobG]

Is it even normal to have an index finger longer than the ring finger?
It's an inhuman characteristic!


Haha, reminds me of a joke - "check your gender: if your index finger is longer than your ring finger, your a guy!"

Funny thing I checked. :shy:

No, it is not normal to have an index finger longer than your ring finger. However, your joke is wrong. If your index finger is longer than your ring finger, you're a girl. Especially on the right hand.

Among men, the ratio of the index finger to ring finger is fairly low - in other words, the index finger is quite a bit shorter than the ring finger.

Among heterosexual women, the ratio is still less probably less than one, but much higher than the ratio among men.

Among homosexual women, the ratio comes a lot closer to the ratio for men.

Among men, there's no correlation between finger ratio and homosexuality.

http://www.unl.edu/rhames/courses/readings/homofinger/homo_finger.html

(I hope they screened out all the guys that had lawnmower accidents when they did this research.)

 

[drizzle]

No, it is not normal to have an index finger longer than your ring finger. However, your joke is wrong. If your index finger is longer than your ring finger, you're a girl. Especially on the right hand...

... But it's still a joke, right?

 

[BobG]

... But it's still a joke, right?

Yes, of course. A very popular joke among scientists. Based on the 2D:4D ratio theory, some scientists believe Neanderthals had a more exciting sex life than humans: FINGER RATIOS POINT OUT: The Neanderthal life was dominated by competition & promiscuity!

(The important part of that link is that it tells you how to measure the length of your fingers so you can check your ratio.)

I come out with a .933 ratio. I tried several different methods of measuring finger length before finding this link - my ratios varied from .927 to .935 depending on how I measured (I got .935, .927, .9375, and .933). When some people measure their finger length 4 different ways, including photocopying their hand, and average the results, I can understand why you might be embarrassed at having merely did a meager, half-hearted visual comparison of your finger lengths.

On the other hand, maybe finger length doesn't tell a person anything about their sexual orientation. Maybe it indicates how much money they're likely to earn in life:
Finger size link to earning power

Personally, I'd rather have a good sex life than money, so I'm choosing to believe the other two articles I linked to. And I'm certainly not going to believe Borek's article - who the heck wants to get prostrate cancer?

 

[Dadface]

If your index finger is longer than your ring finger, you're a girl. Especially on the right hand.

Ah,so that's why very few girls get prostate cancer.

 

[BobG]

... But it's still a joke, right?

By the way, it's a joke because there's more obvious ways for you check whether you're male or female than measuring your finger length.

You could look at cartoons, for example, and look at how your brain reacts to the cartoons: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,175092,00.html

 

[G037H3]

No, it is not normal to have an index finger longer than your ring finger. However, your joke is wrong. If your index finger is longer than your ring finger, you're a girl. Especially on the right hand.

Both of my index fingers are longer than my ring fingers. Is one of the things that led me to accept that gender is heavily influenced by hormonal exposure in the womb.

 

[collinsmark]

There are recent studies that correlate finger length to hormones.

So it's not that if your index finger is longer than your ring finger you simply are a girl, and if your index finger is shorter you're a boy. It's more complicated than that. But there is a correlation. However, hormone characteristics show a stronger correlation than simply boy/girl, as this article points out:

From Article:

The length of fingers is genetically linked to the sex hormones, and a person with an index finger shorter than the ring finger will have had more testosterone while in the womb, and a person with an index finger longer than the ring finger will have had more estrogen. The difference in the lengths can be small – as little as two or three per cent – but important.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-10/bis-aft102004.php"

Edit: here's another article on the subject:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1409789/?tool=pmcentrez"

It doesn't surprise me that much that prostate cancer is correlated with hormone levels, and thus to some degree, finger lengths.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Funny thing I checked.

Me too. And I got the shock of my life.

 

[Newai]

How long are we supposed to watch them for? I've been watching for hours and I'm starting to see patterns.

 

[JaredJames]

Left Hand: Index finger 6mm longer than ring finger.

Right Hand: Index finger 2mm longer than ring finger.

This is the first time I've properly looked at this and it's really bugging me, it's way outside my error margin. I have an obsession with everything "needing to be balanced". Every time I now look at my hands it's blatently obvious.

Dammit Borek!

Now where's my cigar cutter?

 

[collinsmark]

I wouldn't put much thought into the subject.

Sure there might be correlations found, and maybe one day this might lead so some sort of rough marker for some sort of heath purposes or something, maybe. But all of it is still very controversial. And by all means don't fooled by anybody accidentally abusing the statistics*, even if accidentally.

*(For an example statistics abuse, suppose, completely hypothetically, a study claimed that 80% of quantum physicists like bagels. One might assume the next time they see a stranger at the coffee shop enjoying a bagel, "oh my, there's a 80% chance that he's a quantum physicist." But that's not a valid application of the statistic.)

So my personal advice, when looking at your own fingers, or the fingers of any one particular individual, take these studies with a grain of salt.

[Edit: For a more apt example of such statistics abuse, there was an episode of Manswers (a television show on Spike TV) that dealt with this very subject. The claim was something to the effect, [paraphrasing here] "Men are somewhat more likely than women to have a slightly longer ring finger compared to his index finger. Therefore, if the girl you are trying to score with has a slightly longer ring finger, chances are that she's really not a she, probably has a penis, and is a transvestite or a transsexual." But no, no no! It doesn't work like that! . The Manswers episode completely warped and misused the statistic!]

 

[turbo]

My right index finger is a lot shorter than my right ring finger. Left hand? Not so much. Wha? Do I need to seek help or line up for medical tests?

 

[collinsmark]

My right index finger is a lot shorter than my right ring finger. Left hand? Not so much. Wha? Do I need to seek help or line up for medical tests?

I guess it just means you go both ways.

I'm kidding! I'm kidding. That was a bad joke. Sorry.

Really, it doesn't mean much of anything. See the Edit in my last post about how these correlations have been grossly abused by the media in the past (I added a specific example dealing with this very finger-length thing). And prepare for the inevitable, that the misuse will continue.

 

[lisab]

I wouldn't put much thought into the subject.

I agree, and I'm not saying that because my 2D/4D ratio is 1.

 

[BobG]

I agree, and I'm not saying that because my 2D/4D ratio is 1.

:!)

 

[drizzle]

I hate you Borek!


Well... I've heard that having a ring finger longer than the index finger, is considered as a sign of beauty for women!

 

[BobG]

I hate you Borek!


Well... I've heard that having a ring finger longer than the index finger, is considered as a sign of beauty for women!

It will prevent you from being another Mia Crowe in the hand modeling career field - she's known as the best left hand in hand modeling. One example (in fact, Crowe considers this the sexiest shoot of her career):

 

[BobG]

And, just to keep the women happy, how about Steve Altes:

[PLAIN]http://www.stevealtes.com/media/images/hands/thumbs/41_brandx06.jpg[PLAIN]http://www.stevealtes.com/media/images/hands/thumbs/42_brandx07.jpg [PLAIN]http://www.stevealtes.com/media/images/hands/thumbs/28_guardian.jpg

He's a rocket scientist, too!

 

[Borek]

I hate you Borek!

Why, because I am a guy? Or because I have index and ring fingers?

Why does your post make me think about picture posted today in the random thoughts, the electronic one?

 

[drizzle]

Why, because I am a guy? Or because I have index and ring fingers?

No, because you made me check my fingers!... AGAIN.

Why does your post make me think about picture posted today in the random thoughts, the electronic one?

You mean this one:

[PLAIN]http://bcdusa.com/gallery/usuhs/box-buttons300.jpg

Excellent, you're starting to understand women.

 

[AlephZero]

A few years back there was a national advertising campaign in the UK encouraging males of a certain age to get their prostrates checked, and explaining how quick and simple the "digital rectal examination procedure" was.

So now they have discovered an even quicker and simpler digital non-rectal examination procedure? That sounds like progress to me.

 

[Lisa!]

Which of your fingers is longer, your ring finger or your index finger?

If your ring finger is longer, there’s a good chance you have a strong aptitude for math and spatial functions.

If your index finger is longer, it seems your verbal skills are likely your better suit.

http://www.intenseexperiences.com/index-ring-finger-intelligence.html

So if we put the results of these 2 studies together we go to the conclusion that mathematicians are more likely to develop prostate cancer

 

[Borek]

You mean this one:

[PLAIN]http://bcdusa.com/gallery/usuhs/box-buttons300.jpg[/quote]

No, the other one.

Excellent, you're starting to understand women.

I have long ago realized there is nothing to understand. All one can do is to accept them as they are.

 

[i_wish_i_was_smart]

It will prevent you from being another Mia Crowe in the hand modeling career field - she's known as the best left hand in hand modeling. One example (in fact, Crowe considers this the sexiest shoot of her career):

Her: I'm a model!

Him: uhhh you're a model?

Her: a HAND model.

Him: OHHH that makes sense!