XX vs XY

 Annamaria on Monday

All of my siblings are XYs. I, on the other hand, am an XX. Having grown up with three brothers (one 16 months older than I, one 9 years younger, and the third 15 years younger), I have always had a perfect observation point from which to study the males of the species. I also had a wonderful dad, and a gaggle of sometimes nice, but sometimes pretty nasty uncles and mostly boy cousins. I think this is why I have always had easy friendships with boys and men.  I got used to them at an early age.

I am telling you all this because I am concerned that some readers may take what I have to say today as misandry. It is not. I do not look down upon, much less hate men.  Not at all! What I am reporting on today are scientific facts. 

But before I get into that, I do confess that I have been joking for many years about the comparison of people with XX chromosomes versus XY chromosomes.  Whenever women friends complain about the shortcomings of the males in their lives - husbands, boyfriends, bosses, etc. - it has been my habit to point out that we have two X chromosomes, and they have an X and a Y. I then postulated that the so called Y is really an X with a piece missing. Consequently, males of the species do not always react to the world around them with the wisdom of a woman.  Hahaha. I got a lot of laughs with that line.  All of them from women!

Then, I heard about the book The Better Half, subtitled On the Genetic Superiority of Women, by  Sharon Moalem, MD. PhD.  Dr. Moalem is a geneticist and in his book, he reveals in detail how that Y in men actually is, so to speak, an X with a piece missing.

He noticed, at the beginning of his medical career, that challenged baby girls were much more likely to survive their difficulty than boys who were similar in all other ways.

Eventually his research went deep into questions of why and how having a woman's immune system or having two X chromosomes give women an advantage.  As it happens, damanged chromosomes cause a lot of the problems that crop up in human lives.  In the book, Dr. Moalem uses the metaphor of a hybrid car.  "In some situations being gas powered is better; in others electric works better.  When the damaged gene causes a disease, a little girl's body can reach out to the spare and heal itself, where the boy child often has no such option.

A great deal of female superiority comes from having an immune system boosted by the stuff in that piece the guys are missing.  The longer life-expectancy of women, which is universal among humans, generally speaking keeps us healthier longer.

Throughtout most of human history, men were considered the stronger sex.  Perhaps this is because they are generally taller and have stronger muscles.  In times of famine however, the females' storage of protein in fat is much more efficient and helpful than those big muscles, which cannot keep their owner alive.

There is downside to the strength of the female immune system.  We XXs are much more likely to have auto immune diseases, such as lupus.  I myself have two, and a ton of allergies.  I blame my hyper-active immune system for all that.  But I also credit it with the overall state of my health.  

The doc's book explains all this science in an easy, conversational style.  I highly recommend it.

   

When it comes to XX vs XY, I still can say vive la difference! I can also say I have always been glad to be a girl. Thanks to Dr. Moalem, I can now  tell you why.