Women See Colors Better 103
fenimor writes "The results of the study by researchers at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, suggests that natural genetic selection has provided women with a frequent ability to better discriminate between colors than men. 'Normally, this degree of genetic variation is suppressed through natural selection,' says Brian Verrelli, a researcher at ASU. 'In this case, nature is supporting a high degree of variation instead.' Because women have two X chromosomes, women can receive one chromosome with the typical configuration of the red vision gene while the other chromosome receives a slight variation. By contrast, men have one X chromosome, and any variation in the single red gene that they receive reduces their ability to distinguish between red and green."
Personal theory (Score:5, Insightful)
Women would need to be able to distinguish fine colors to tell plant features apart (poisonous, spoiled). If you make a bad choice, your group might get sick. Whereas men don't really need to distinguish colors as finely because an antelope is an antelope no matter what shade it is.
A color-blind male won't hurt the group much. A color-blind (or handicapped) female would.
It's culture, not genetics. (Score:2, Insightful)
I don't agree with any of the theories.
Think about this. Suppose a little boy grew up in the woman culture. From the time he is able to understand words, he would be taught in many different ways that color matters, because "being beautiful" matters. Such a person would learn to be especially sensitive to color, the way someone who has been blinded learns to be especially sensitive to sounds. It has nothing to do with gender.
More than 30 years ago, a woman told me I was a "typical engineer". She said I was socially backward and that I had a "slide-rule voice". I was smart enough to know that she was right. I remembered that, when I was a teenager, I would have to ask my mother if clothes matched in color.
I put a lot of effort into growing in those areas. For example, I went to sensitivity training at UCLA Management Institute to be more in touch with my own and other's feelings. I asked women friends a million questions. I began paying attention to how people operated who could do things I couldn't do.
I'm still friends with the woman who criticized me. Now I'm far more in touch with my feelings than she is, and she accepts advice from me. It takes me, literally, about 1 to 3 seconds to decide whether something is artistically pleasing, including seeing whether the colors are appropriate. I can deliver a complete criticism in one minute. Last year I spent several hours reviewing the recent offerings of Donna Karan [donnakaran.com] and other fashion houses with a woman friend who was a buyer for a department store in New York. She seemed to appreciate what I said, even though I am generally negative about women spending so much time on clothes. When I was single I would think, why should a woman spend a lot of time with something I am going to look at only long enough to discover how to take it off?
Last Sunday I went clothes shopping with my wife, and I picked out the only top she decided to buy. It's learning how, only that.
The woman who criticized me is still no better at being logical, something that is absolutely necessary for a programmer, and absolutely necessary for managing to have a good life. If she had put the same effort as I did into teaching myself to think carefully, I'm sure she could have done very well, however.
What women often want is a man who is horny, knows what to do, but is otherwise just like them. Because of that, a man who knows the woman culture gets far too many chances to have sex. A big criticism that I have, and that I have heard from Europeans and Russians and Brazilians, is that women in the U.S. are too undiscriminating about who they choose for sexual involvement.
A few months ago I was standing in a bar surrounded by at least 200 people talking to a woman I had met. I told her I did not want a beer because I am overweight; I don't need the calories. She said she was overweight, too. I said she didn't look overweight to me. She said she was, nevertheless. I ran my hand under her jacket along her waist, and said she was not overweight. She said she was. I said, "Okay, take off your clothes." Obviously, I was only joking, but she laughed in a delighted way, indicating she thought I was on the right track. I was only trying to relieve the boredom of being in the bar. I didn't see the direction things would take in a few seconds.
It's all in learning how, only that.