# Gender-linked Tendencies of Floating Corpses

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-linked-tendencies-of-floating-corpses/230158>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 20, 2004, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-linked-tendencies-of-floating-corpses/230158 "2004-02-20T04:51:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Trucido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@Trucido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trucido)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2004, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-linked-tendencies-of-floating-corpses/230158/1 "2004-02-20T04:51:13Z")

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Maybe I’m just remembering fiction I’ve read (Twain?), but will the corpse of a man float face down while a woman’s floats face up? Would this vary depending on physiological differences within each sex, or maybe with degree of decomposition? As far as that goes, how well does a corpse float?

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2004, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-linked-tendencies-of-floating-corpses/230158/2 "2004-02-20T05:54:48Z")

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This belief was mentioned briefly in the Straight Dope Staff Report [Will shooting a cannon cause a drowned body to rise to the surface?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mcannonbody.html).

That in turn spawned a thread in the Comments on Staff Reports forum: [Mammary glands, floatation, Huck Finn](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=179143)