Female vs Male Neck Sizes

[GarlicLitre]

Every so often, I have yet another random thought about sex dimorphism in humans. As we know, the differences are all-pervasive but they can still surprise me. Welcome to today's unexpected fact.

The female neck circumference ranges from 28.4cm to 35.6cm.
Male neck circumferences range from 37.9cm to 42.9cm.

Those are for athletes. There is no crossover here; the smallest, slimmest sportsman's neck is thicker than the biggest, strongest sportswoman's.

In the general (American) populace, the biggest and fattest woman's neck can measure 41.3cm. This is matched by a larger overweight man. The largest obese man measures his neck at 47.9cm.

At the skinny end of normal, the tiniest guy's neck is 34.7cm. This is average for an overweight woman.

For what it's worth, mine's 35cm at a BMI of 24 - so I've either measured it poorly or I'm right in thinking I am of sturdy build! (I'm also quite tall ... for a woman.) Tiny guy's shirt might just fit me in the collar, but it sure as hell wouldn't go around me anywhere else.

There's also a difference in shoulder attachment size, but I didn't find data on that - just fairly vague sketch illustrations.

https://www.bodybuildingmealplan.com/average-neck-size/

I can't think of any part of the human body that isn't significantly different between males and females.

Brain. Differs in overall size but not specific areas. And the vast majority of cognitive tasks show no sex differences in how people think or how smart they are.

An assistant showed me in a charity shop how to measure a garment around my neck to see whether it would fit at the waist. (Basically your neck circumference is half your waist circumference). No idea whether this rule is universal but it worked for me! Suggests waist would be similarly bimodal in humans.

I was thinking physical/ structural. I should have made that clear.

Olfactory bulb! Females have roughly 6.9 million neurons in their olfactory bulbs, while males have no more than 3.5 million. The number of non-neuronal cells (like glial cells) is also higher in females compared to males.

While hormonal fluctuations can influence olfactory function, the sex differences in the olfactory bulb are maintained even after menopause, suggesting other factors are involved.

This is one of my pet thingies, not least because men with abnormally high olfactory function for their sex are celebrated as perfumery 'noses' even though their sense of smell is no more acute than a normal woman's. A pregnant woman could probably knock any of them off their perch - if she weren't, you know, so female.

There are other physical brain differences, too. It's very interesting. Not all these differences can be eliminated with training: the brain is plastic, but it's also sexed. We automatically compensate for some of them by using the halves of our brains differently.

In same-age adults with 20/20 vision, men have longer focal distance and poorer colour perception than women.

I find these differences, and the reasons behind them, really interesting. It reminds me of when my children were little and used to do the 'Why ... ' questioning. The olfactory bulb - when I was pregnant I couldn't be too near dp he'd drunk coffee that day.

Hands are the most obvious I think. And there's no surgery to make manly hands look womanly or vice versa.

I hated having a sense of smell when I was pregnant! Pretty much any smell made me gag. I could smell onions in absolutely miniscule amounts in a sauce. Must be what dogs feel like all the time

What is the brain if not physical and a structure?

In same-age adults with 20/20 vision, men have longer focal distance and poorer colour perception than women

What does this mean? Wouldn’t adults with 20/20 vision have the same distance vision? They can see at 20 feet what the average person can see at twenty feet. Otherwise, 20/20 vision means nothing.

Ha, yes, they have other numbers for chaps with their deeper field of vision. XH#2, who could see really far-away detail while having no problem with close vision, once said his was 30/30 or something. I've no idea, he bullshitted half the time anyway.

The point of my statement was that, among people with perfect eyesight, men can see a heck of a lot further.

I enjoyed looking into this stuff because it clearly emerged that we have evolved complementary abilities. The sexes are madly different, and would achieve maximum effectiveness in mixed-sex teams that fully play to each member's strengths.

It also raises the vexed issue of gender. While I'm strongly anti-gender as we understand it socially, I think it probable that some of the things labelled 'masculine' and 'feminine' really do derive from sexed biological traits. That goes from structure-related differences such as gait, through a preference for pretty colours and fragrances or shooting projectiles at distant targets, to subtler behaviours relating to mate selection and reproduction. I need to read more Cordelia Fine, perhaps!

Well it is a larger and heavier organ. I wasn't considering neurological function. Just mentally picturing a male body vs a female body. Not trying to start an argument.

I was always surprised with the difference between male and female hands. I do a sport that requires gloves, and I have to get women's specific ones. I used to think there'd be no difference, except maybe the women's would have a smaller smallest size, men's would have a larger largest, etc - but the proportions are completely different.

I've got long fingers, so I have to get XL women's. Length-wise, L men's gloves fit, but they're comically wide, meaning that they're all baggy and loose on the palm.

Here's one I made earlier 😏

Men's brains are larger than women's brains. Women have more neurons in some areas. So they're generally better at doing different things, which makes sense from evolutionary point of view. Individuals, of course, vary. Women are less likely to be on the extremes and more men at the extreme ends of intelligence.

So quite a bit of difference really!

Neck size - the difference male/female
Add into that the difference in hand size - male/female (and that's before you get into the difference in male/female grip strength)

This is why men can strangle women with their bare hands, but I don't think it works the other way round.

That explains alot.

I read a very interesting book recently- Unnatural Causes by a top forensic pathologist. Obviously some topics are sensitive, but it's written in matter of fact reality-based language acknowledging the difference between the sexes. He describes a case which was the only example in his entire career of a woman accused of strangling a man (with a garment not bare hands).

I have manly hands. My palms are square rather than rectangular. I am a broad build generally.

DH is on the petite side for a man. We had the same size hands and rings when we married, though I’ve put on and lost weight, and my knuckles have become lumpy.

I will be gazing at his neck when I go downstairs. Like a vampire.

That is an interesting statistic. I notice the necks of trans actors, I must say.

Absolutely fascinating. Thank you. Mumsnet delivers again.

Sounds like you will need a garment. Which is cheating (but may be a use for your cloak).

Feeling rather concerned for your DH.

Oh my word!

I loved my supersense of smell when pregnant! It was amazing! I remember standing out in rainy woodland with ferns and bluebells and having a practically religious experience at the smells.

Me too! I remember feeling overwhelmed once, walking down a country lane with all those smells practically assaulting me from the flowers and bushes along the sides. It was walking into a wall of smells.

I think this is what it must be like to be a dog.

[Edited to add] That was wonderful, though other things were horrific, like the smell of the freezer section in supermarkets.

I don’t love my super senses 🤣

Hideous pregnancies due to the smell of the fridge and dishwasher making me sick, among other things. I lived on milk and instant mash from a box next to the kettle.

Each time I was pregnant, I could smell the hormone changes in my wee when sat on the toilet. I told my sister (who said Eurgh, you're gross and said I'd probably got an infection) but I was right every time. DH turned white when I said (again) "my wee smells funny, I think I'm pregnant!"