Live fast, love hard, die young

    Chasing females　can take years off life

　　In the cause of equal rights, feminists¹ have had much to complain about. But one striking piece of inequality has been conveniently overlooked: lifespan. In this area, women have the upper hand. All round the world, they live longer than men. Why they should do so is not immediately obvious.

　　One theory is that males must compete for female attention. That means evolution is busy selecting for antlers, aggression² and alloy³ wheels in males, at the expense of longevity⁴. Females are not subject to such pressures. If this theory is correct, the effect will be especially noticeable in those species where males compete for the attention of lots of females. Conversely, it will be reduced or absent where they do not.

    生活快节奏，狠狠谈恋爱，死亡早早来

　　在追求权利平等的事业中，女权主义者有许多抱怨。但是，有一件明显不平等的事却一直很容易被忽视，那就是寿命。在这方面女人占据上风。全世界范围内，她们都活得比男人长久。为什么会这样的原因还不能马上搞清楚。

　　有一种理论认为，雄性必须要为吸引雌性而竞争。那就意味着进化就是不停地选择雄性的利角、进攻性和速度，这使得雄性在寿命上付出了代价。雌性不受这种压力的制约。如果这种理论是正确的，那么这样的作用在那些雄性要为吸引许多雌性而竞争的物种中表现得就尤为明显。反过来说，如果雄性不为此而竞争，它们将被淘汰或消亡。