# Boys and girls, look at your fingers (a poll) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 13, 2002, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boys-and-girls-look-at-your-fingers-a-poll/113810 "2002-06-13T07:04:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boys-and-girls-look-at-your-fingers-a-poll/113810/1 "2002-06-13T07:04:12Z")
I just read an interesting but useless piece of trivia. Place your hand palm down against a flat surface. Look at your first and third fingers (the pointer and ring finger). According to what I read, on men the ring finger is noticeably longer than the pointer. On women, they are the same length. I checked my fingers and was reassured of my own manliness. Granted, I could have used this same hand to perform a more traditional anatomical gender check, but this trick has the advantage of being performable in mixed company. So in the interest of science, I invite everyone to check their fingers and post the results. ---
**Author:** ![Daowajan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@Daowajan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daowajan)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boys-and-girls-look-at-your-fingers-a-poll/113810/2 "2002-06-13T07:05:10Z")
Er… my ring finger’s longer. ---
**Author:** ![Essured](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Essured](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Essured)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boys-and-girls-look-at-your-fingers-a-poll/113810/3 "2002-06-13T07:13:18Z")
My ring finger is longer. I’m female. ---
**Author:** ![woolly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ebca7d/32.png) [@woolly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woolly)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boys-and-girls-look-at-your-fingers-a-poll/113810/4 "2002-06-13T07:18:27Z")
If this is a definitive test for normality, this here dumb Y chromosome passes. ---
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boys-and-girls-look-at-your-fingers-a-poll/113810/5 "2002-06-13T07:19:28Z")
Cite? This doesn’t ring true. ---
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boys-and-girls-look-at-your-fingers-a-poll/113810/6 "2002-06-13T07:20:31Z")
[The longer a man’s fingers are relative to his height, the more likely he is to suffer from depression](http://www.liv.ac.uk/researchintelligence/issue2/finger.html) [Boys with shorter ring fingers suffer a greater risk of heart-attack as young adults](http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1613000/1613066.stm) [Men with ring fingers much longer than their index fingers are more fertile](http://www.abc.net.au/science/bernie/news/s43596.htm) [Lesbians have longer ring fingers than index fingers, especially on their right hands](http://www.abc.net.au/science/bernie/news/s114812.htm) There’s heeeaps of scientific magic in the lengths of our fingers! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boys-and-girls-look-at-your-fingers-a-poll/113810/7 "2002-06-13T07:27:33Z")
Oh, to summarise, it is supposed to be a testosterone thingy. **More testosterone** → more heart attacks, more depression, more sperm, more baldness, more masculinity, etc. (There’s a million Google results available, should anyone be interested in checking out the veracity of the science. I have no idea whether it’s accurate or not.) -and- **More testosterone** → longer ring fingers. Well, so they say. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![VDarlin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e56c9b/32.png) [@VDarlin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VDarlin)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boys-and-girls-look-at-your-fingers-a-poll/113810/8 "2002-06-13T07:31:57Z")
Just checked, and it appears that I am all woman, according to that method of gender validation - heh. Thanks for posting this, in order to alleviate my fears, I still wasn’t sure after giving birth to three kids! 😉 ~V ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boys-and-girls-look-at-your-fingers-a-poll/113810/9 "2002-06-13T07:35:09Z")
Hmm, here I am, steeped in all my 36 week pregnant glory, with ring fingers longer than my index fingers. Hmph. ---
**Author:** ![Coil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Coil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coil)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boys-and-girls-look-at-your-fingers-a-poll/113810/10 "2002-06-13T07:50:50Z")
Ring finger is a bit longer on both hands. I´m male, so I guess that adds support to the thesis. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boys-and-girls-look-at-your-fingers-a-poll/113810/11 "2002-06-13T09:41:32Z")
Male. Ring fingers 1cm longer than index fingers. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Doris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Sir\_Doris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Doris)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boys-and-girls-look-at-your-fingers-a-poll/113810/12 "2002-06-13T09:53:07Z")
My ring fingers are slightly shorter on both hands. I guess I must be some kind of freak 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tansu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boys-and-girls-look-at-your-fingers-a-poll/113810/13 "2002-06-13T09:54:53Z")
Lady right hand, hermaphrodite left hand (fingers same length). ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boys-and-girls-look-at-your-fingers-a-poll/113810/14 "2002-06-13T10:15:47Z")
Ring finger just _barely_ longer than index. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boys-and-girls-look-at-your-fingers-a-poll/113810/15 "2002-06-13T10:52:38Z")
Heterosexual female with longer ring fingers here… once again, I’m a freak. That’s for once again reassuring me I have not fallen into the abyss of normality ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boys-and-girls-look-at-your-fingers-a-poll/113810/16 "2002-06-13T10:54:23Z")
Data: Male, 26 yr. Left Hand - Ring finger 1 cm longer than forefinger Right Hand - Forefinger 2-3 mm longer than ring finger ---
**Author:** ![Nortia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Nortia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nortia)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boys-and-girls-look-at-your-fingers-a-poll/113810/17 "2002-06-13T11:00:30Z")
My index fingers are slightly longer than my ring fingers, guess I’m a freak too 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Venoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c4cdca/32.png) [@Venoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Venoma)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boys-and-girls-look-at-your-fingers-a-poll/113810/18 "2002-06-13T11:10:35Z")
erg! IM A MUTANT. on my left hand, my ring finger is longer than my pointer. on my right hand, my pointer is longer than my ring finger. I’m a woman. a rather manly one, I guess! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![JavaMaven1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@JavaMaven1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JavaMaven1)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boys-and-girls-look-at-your-fingers-a-poll/113810/19 "2002-06-13T11:27:59Z")
Female checking in. Left hand: Ring finger noticably longer than the index finger Right hand: Ring finger slightly longer than the index finger ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boys-and-girls-look-at-your-fingers-a-poll/113810/20 "2002-06-13T11:31:06Z")
Male, ring finger slightly longer on both hands. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boys-and-girls-look-at-your-fingers-a-poll/113810.md?page=2)