Jim Goad is one among my favourite dwelling cultural commentators. On par with a younger P. J. O’Rourke, who died in 2022 at age 74. Final yr Goad wrote a considerate and thought-provoking article on why ladies outlive males. A pattern:

This disparity isn’t unique to the USA. In reality, it’s worse elsewhere. Worldwide, ladies outlive males by a median of seven years. In line with a 2001 report, the one 5 international locations on Earth the place males outlived ladies have been the flea-bitten open-air latrines we name Afghanistan, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. However a report from 2017 says there’s now not any nation on the planet the place males outlive ladies.

It wasn’t at all times this manner.

In line with information from developed international locations, males lived longer than ladies all through many of the 1800s, just for the longevity stats to tip in favor of females through the 1890s — a bonus that girls have held ever since. Girls are supposedly extra weak than males to infectious illnesses, however as soon as male scientists received a grip on the microbes and introduced these pesky critters to heel, ladies began dwelling longer than males.

So far as I do know, ladies have by no means thanked males for it.

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For one more instance of Goad’s work, take a look at his valentine, Why I By no means Gave Up On Girls.

  Steve Parker, M.D.