Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Men are officially more stupid than women

Almost 90 per cent of people who died in foolish ways this year were men

Roisin O'Connor
Friday 12 December 2014 17:13 GMT
Comments
Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels ride again
Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels ride again (Universal)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Nature has chosen, and it turns out women are definitely smarter than men (at least when it comes to staying alive).

The aptly-named Darwin Awards recognises people who have improved the human gene pool by removing themselves from it in the most idiotic ways possible.

The annual review found that almost 90 per cent of people who died in foolish ways were men. Included in the poll were the two geniuses who dared each other to test their courage by lying down on a train track, both of whom died instantly when a train passed through the station at 130kmph.

Then there were the two guys in Kenya who took a selfie with a wild elephant, the man who tried to take a steel hawser from a lift shaft by unbolting it while he was standing in the lift, and the terrorist who posted a letterbomb: only to have it returned because he didn’t use enough stamps.

Out of 332 nominations, 14 were ruled non-valid because they were shared by both genders. Of the 318 cases remaining, 89 per cent were awarded to men.

Men are considered more likely to be admitted to an emergency department after accidental injuries and sporting injuries. They are also more likely to be in a road traffic collision with a higher mortality rate.

It's known as the 'idiotic' risk, which the study describes as "a senseless risk where the apparent payoff is negligible or non-existent, and the outcome is often extremely negative and often final".

The report concluded: "These findings are entirely consistent with male idiot theory (MIT) and support the hypothesis that men are idiots and idiots do stupid things."

Sorry guys, it's just science.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in