# Unique physical features of various ethnic groups? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 26, 2006, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-physical-features-of-various-ethnic-groups/346236 "2006-02-26T23:54:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-physical-features-of-various-ethnic-groups/346236/21 "2012-11-01T11:35:39Z")
I’m reluctant to click on a link by a necromancer who has nothing more to say than “Came across this site… interesting… re difference.” ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-physical-features-of-various-ethnic-groups/346236/22 "2012-11-01T12:10:04Z")
> [@newcrasher](#): > > I dunno. I have heard that male Swedes have very small genitalia… Especially when compared to the Norwegians! ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-physical-features-of-various-ethnic-groups/346236/23 "2012-11-01T13:35:56Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > Especially when compared to the Norwegians! Hey! It get real cold in Scandinavia. Just sayin’. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-physical-features-of-various-ethnic-groups/346236/24 "2012-11-01T14:20:50Z")
> [@lechezz](#): > > Came across this site… interesting… re difference. > > [Science on racial differences](http://www.ironbarkresources.com/defendingfreespeech/dfs05racescience.htm) Hey, great first post here! From the [main page](http://www.ironbarkresources.com/) of that site. > [@](#): > > Ironbark Resources (incorporating the Australian Nationalism Information Database) is an educational resource to promote Australia’s national identity and culture, and to offer criticism of mass immigration, multiculturalism, Asianisation and Islamification as major threats to our environment, our people, and our way of life. This educational resource was established in March 1998 as a service to the people of Australia. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-physical-features-of-various-ethnic-groups/346236/25 "2012-11-01T16:34:34Z")
Consider establishing in your own mind what a “race” or “ethnic group” is. Once you do that, all you have to do is google for the search terms, and you’ll find plenty of differences. But don’t forget that the crudeness of these categories renders an assumption about a given individual very suspect. Men might be–on average–stronger than women, but there are plenty of women out there who can kick my ass. For some folks, these categories are purely social constructs. By definition for them, then, physiological differences do not exist. If Navin Johnson gets to be black, then it’s silly to talk about (genetically driven) physiological differences. Having said that, a Self Identified Race Ethnicity does create groups inside of which you will find average differences for the prevalence of certain genes which drive physiologic differences. We can say that [cystic fibrosis genes](http://www.lung.org/assets/documents/publications/solddc-chapters/cf.pdf)are more prevalent–on average–in white SIRE groups than black SIRE groups, or that [creatine kinase levels](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6837521) are, on average, higher in blacks than whites. And so on. It’s true that an argument for greater genetic variation within a SIRE group than between SIRE groups can be made, but this is completely irrelevant to whether or not SIRE groups can have average physiologic differences based on genes. I could define a group of self-identified Talls and self-identified Shorts, and the average difference between those two groups would be genetically based regardless of which group otherwise had greater genetic variation. It’s all about what gene pool your particular SIRE group has (on average) access to, and our history of human migration has created gene pools that are nowhere near completely intermingled. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-physical-features-of-various-ethnic-groups/346236/26 "2012-11-01T23:09:45Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I’m sure nobody will be shocked to learn this is a bunch of thinly veiled “negroes are closer to monkeys” rubbish. Yeah, that link is crap. Just for starters, there’s this little gem: > [@](#): > > The view that race is only a social construct is contradicted by biological evidence. Uh…since different peoples have held _entirely contrary_ views on race, and “classified” the “races” very differently, and that’s known historical fact, that _in itself_ contradicts such claims. For example, the Irish were definitely once considered a “race.” The fact that the pinheads pushing this trash (no specific poster is being singled out here, I mean websites like that) consider persons of Celtic Irish descent now _the same race_ as persons of Saxon descent in itself immediately, completely, and permanently debunks that argument (that race is NOT a social construct) _even if they are able to find physical differences in what they NOW call races_. ---
**Author:** ![Chen019](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f19dbf/32.png) [@Chen019](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chen019)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-physical-features-of-various-ethnic-groups/346236/27 "2012-11-02T01:25:19Z")
> [@filemat](#): > > Regardless, I would love to hear about such interesting physiological “features” for various groups of people. I.e physiological “features” that are not obvious such as skin color, size, width of nose, etc. Australian Aborigines tend to do well on tests of spatial memory and it turns out they tend to have a particularly large visual cortex. > [@](#): > > By Clive Harper, a professor of pathology in Sydney, may have discovered evidence that it is more than just a theoretical possibility. He found that the visual cortex – the part of the brain used in processing and interpreting visual information – was about 25 per cent larger in aborigines than in Caucasians. > **[An aborigines brain is 25 per cent bigger than a Europeans](https://www.goldenageproject.org.uk/58aborigine.php)** > > The Golden Age Project provides an insight into human origins, archaeology, an Alternative Genesis and a survey of Atlantis. > [@filemat](#): > > P.S for anyone considering this as “arguments” for racism, consider that we are more alike than different. For instance, according to studies the genetical variation is greater withing what is often referred to as a race (i.e “blacks” etc) than between two such “races”. Note this is the [Lewontin Fallacy](http://infoproc.blogspot.co.nz/2008/11/human-genetic-variation-fst-and.html). ---
**Author:** ![\_Olive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/4af34b/32.png) [@\_Olive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Olive)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-physical-features-of-various-ethnic-groups/346236/28 "2012-11-02T02:07:14Z")
A friend of mine told me Australian Aborigines are missing a muscle in their legs. I have no idea if it is true. My Okinawan friend insists his teeth have special ridges. Okinawans are usually very hairy too. So some say. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-physical-features-of-various-ethnic-groups/346236/29 "2012-11-02T06:03:08Z")
[Well there’s this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Khoisan.apron.jpg) (Not completely safe for work) > [@](#): > > Elongated labia (also known as Sinus pudoris or macronympha[1] and albeit nonmedically, as khoikhoi apron or hottentot apron) is a feature of certain Khoisan groups, whose female members develop relatively elongated labia minora, hanging up to four inches outside their vulva when they are standing in an upright position. The “apron” moniker was apparently gained from the tendency of early European descriptions to misidentify the pair of labia as a single, wide organ, which they called, in French, a tablier, or “apron”.[2] “Hottentot” is an acquired name for the Khoisan peoples, now considered derogatory. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-physical-features-of-various-ethnic-groups/346236/30 "2012-11-02T13:31:52Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > Uh…since different peoples have held _entirely contrary_ views on race, and “classified” the “races” very differently, and that’s known historical fact, that _in itself_ contradicts such claims. No, I don’t think it does. I mean, I don’t disagree with the substantive point, but I believe your logic fails to hold up. Consider: “those scientists! first they thought that the sun revolved around the earth, now they say the earth revolves around the sun. It just proves that the whole concept of movement of heavenly bodies is nonsense.” It is possible for many people to hold contradictory views, and for one of them to be right. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-physical-features-of-various-ethnic-groups/346236.md?page=1)