Men are often considered reckless. They are the ones who are more likely to end up in a hospital or to die earlier than women because of their chosen activities. But how do men fare in terms of idiotic behavior? A study now published in the British Medical Journal says they are more capable of that as well.
Many studies tend to point at some facts about men-that they are spontaneous and have little regard to risks than women. What a group of researchers from northeast England would like to know, however, is whether men are also prone to idiotic behavior. These are instances where men act on something even when logic and reason seem to be non-existent.
For the study, they relied on the data they could obtain from the previous winners of the Darwin Awards, which started in the mid-1980s to honor those who sacrificed their lives in order to improve the quality of the gene pool. In other words, they either made themselves sterile or killed themselves due to poor or stupid judgment.
The researchers gathered information spanning 20 years from 1995 and determined the winner's sex. These people, based on the rules of the awards, were mature or they were free of any mental illness and were of legal age.
While they were more than 400 nominations, only 332 passed the requirements of the committee. Fourteen were couples, so about 318 of these candidates were analyzed by the team.
Among 318, an astonishing 88% of them were males, which made it easy for the researchers to conclude that men are more likely to do stupid things than women.
But why are men more compelled to do stupid things? The authors came up with a series of theories including male egos and bragging rights. To be able to accomplish something risk, even though idiotic, can help boost a male's self-esteem. Or it's also possible more women are nominating men into the awards.
