More interesting facts about fingers

A reader noted in response to my item on finger length, specifically the ratio of Ms. Index to Ms. Ring, that she'd heard of a correlation between this ratio and sexual orientation. Indeed, there are several studies to that effect, the latest one published in the July, 2006 issue of Neurobiology.

Doctors in Zurich knew that longer 4th fingers are associated with higher levels of prenatal testosterone. This embryological hormonal climate influences the developing brain with respect to sexual preference. They measured the ratios of finger 2 to finger 4, and found that the higher the ratio, the less likely the Swiss miss to prefer lesbian relationships.

A previous study out of NYU looked at finger lengths in identical female twins with different sexual preferences. They found that the 2:4 ratio was lower in the lesbian twin compared to her heterosexual sister, suggesting some difference in their prenatal environments because their genetic make-up was exactly the same.