Research shows that when it comes to stupidity, men beat women

Before we proceed any further, a woman must have been behind the acronym ‘MIT’ — Male Idiot Theory — that posits men to be stupider than women. And clearly, only male readers will fall for such a theory believing the MIT tag to denote impeccable research as expected from a much-hallowed institution like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

But the University of Newcastle has undertaken the study in which it has taken a closer look at the gender divide in risk-taking — or, more precisely, taking risks without paying any heed to consequences. The verdict: women dumb, men dumber. But women, one supposes, already knew that.

The study, published in the British Medical Journal, used the 20-year-and-running Darwin Awards — given annually to people for dying in the most foolish way — and found that almost 90% of past winners to be male. It is indeed hard to find any 23-year-old woman who would swallow a goldfish on adare and choke to death, as a 1998 Darwin awardee did.

On a more anecdotal level, we don’t see women hanging out of Mumbai local trains, or engaging in totally moronic riotous activities — such as riots. For most people, this ‘womanly’ trait is a sign of fear, or a preference to be safe. But as this study has now proved beyond doubt, the ladies are just smart enough to delegate acts of utter stupidity.