FAR OUT FRIDAY: Men are idiots

When it comes to risk, men are miles ahead of women when exposing themselves to unnecessary danger.

Risk Management News

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When it comes to risk, men are miles ahead of women when exposing themselves to unnecessary danger.

Research published in the British Medical Journal's Christmas issue looked at Darwin Award nominations over the past 20 years.

The awards, inspired by Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, recognize individuals who have died due to their own stupidity, improving the human gene pool by removing themselves from it.

The researchers wanted to know more about gender differences in “idiotic risk,” which they defined as “senseless risks, where the apparent payoff is negligible or non-existent, and the outcome is often extremely negative and often final,” according to an article in the Huffington Post.

Study author Dennis Lendrem told Postmedia News that he was inspired to take up the research after his teenaged son Ben noted that most Darwin Award winners were men.

“I asked him why he thought that was. And he replied it was because men are idiots, which I thought was very wise for a 15-year-old,” said Lendrem.

Examples of Darwin Award winners include three men who drank in a bar and then stomped on a Cambodian land mine. The mine later exploded, killing all of them.

Honourable mentions recognize people whose stupidity doesn't kill them off. An example of this was when a man tried to stimulate himself sexually using a belt sander, and then slipped and lost a testicle. He tried to repair his scrotum with a staple gun.

The study looked at 413 total nominations, of which 332 were confirmed to be real. Researchers discovered that 14 cases involved men and women together, likely “adventurous couples in compromising positions.”

Of the remaining 318 people, 282 (88.7 per cent) were men, and only 36 (11.3 per cent) were women.

According to the study, the results were consistent with “male idiot theory” (MIT), the simple idea that “men are idiots and idiots do stupid things.”

When it comes to risk, men are miles ahead of women when exposing themselves to unnecessary risk.

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