Finger sexuality

If papers published in the past 6 months are right, a single number is enough to show whether people are likely to suffer a premature heart attack, land first authorship on published papers, become dependent on alcohol, or put on fat around the middle. That magic number is the ratio between the lengths of the second and fourth fingers, known as the 2D:4D ratio. It tends to be lower in men—meaning their fourth fingers tend to be longer than their second—than in women. Researchers who believe in its predictive power say it reflects a fetus's exposure to testosterone and other hormones that guide development, including that of the brain.

The author, science writer Mitch Leslie, gives us the rather startling number that over the past 20 years, more than papers have been published linking finger lengths to personality, sexual orientation, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and more. What is this magical finger length ratio? Simple: it's the ratio between the lengths of your index 2nd and ring 4th fingers, also called the 2D:4D ratio. Take a look: is your index finger longer than your ring finger? If the ringer finger is longer, than the 2D:4D ratio is less than one. Nonetheless, some researchers have taken this tiny physiological difference and run with it.

Subscriber Account active since. How we end up as adults is most likely a result of both nature and nurture. Our genes determine certain things, while our upbringing and experiences have their own impact. Sexuality is one of the factors researchers are curious about — why some people are straight and others are gay, bisexual, or asexual. According to new research, someone's sexuality may lie in their hands.

The relationship between finger length and sexuality was only evident, however, in females, according to the report by researchers from the University of Essex, who examined 32 sets of identical twins with different sexual orientations. Typically in women, the index and ring fingers are similar in length, while in men there is a greater difference between the two fingers. While the nonstraight female twins had a lower index-finger-to-ring-finger ratios, the study did not find a significant difference in the male twins' finger-length ratios. The bottom line? Looking at someone's hands "could provide a clue to their sexuality ," according to Watts.