OK, I'm blogging this just for the sheer bizarre value of the study. Livescience.com reports that a study out of University of Massachusetts at Amherst has allegedly determined that women were about 10 percent more accurate than men at hitting a nail with a hammer in the light. Men were about 25 percent more accurate than women at hitting a nail in the dark. Now since I don't know of much construction or home repair that goes on in the dark, I'm not sure how valuable a skill hitting a nail in the dark really is.So to all my male compatriots, I say, Practice Boys! Read up on the tutorial How to Use a Hammer and let's learn how to use these things in the daylight!
Comments
This was actually amusing! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a man say “you hammer like a girl” as a derogatory comment to another man. Now that we know ‘Girls Nail It Better” you guys who’ve had that said to you can feel proud that you do it so well!
Seriously, this is an interesting study… I’d like a vote by men how often they do their hammering (with a hammer) in the dark?
Who funds studies like this? I think maybe I’ll start one on the differences between holding a screwdriver and torquing techniques LOL
Hammerdown,
Yep, a bizarre study. Who funded it? Who else funds useless bizarre studies? The taxpayer! The report was put out by a public university (as in taxpayer supported) and “Jeff Lockman at Tulane University contributed to the research, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health.”
And as far as the research goes, I would ask how many hits of the hammer did it take to drive the nail into the wood? If a person took 20 taps that were “10% more accurate” and another person took 3 blows that were 10% less accurate, guess who builds stuff faster?
As for trying to hit nails in the dark, that’s not something anyone would do, but leave it to an academic researcher…
Bob
Thanks for sharing! Did you keep a straight face when writing this:
“Men were about 25 percent more accurate than women at hitting a nail in the dark. Now since I don’t know of much construction or home repair that goes on in the dark, I’m not sure how valuable a skill hitting a nail in the dark really is.”
Well coming from THIS woman, I’m G-L-A-D My husband is better at nailing in the dark I would say the skill is INVALUABLE!
I wonder how many tax dollars were spent on this wonderful out come.
This study only addresses accuracy. You can hit the nail on the head as many times as you like, but if you’re not driving the nail you still “hammer like a girl”!
I do all my nailing in the dark but don’t have a hammer or nail anywhere in sight.
Of course we do that better right fellas?
This is a little wacky isn’t it I am sure the study was put on my women and like the previous gettlemen said how many times did they hit it?
I too do a great job of nailing without a hammer and nail in sight. I can do it during the day too.
“Alleged”? Sounds a little defensive of you…Just an added note (or comparison, if you like) — 28 years ago when I became the only female member of a volunteer fire department I had to go through all the same training as my male counterparts – at the “male” standard of speed, strength, and so on. On the first test (donning the SCOTT PAC (breathing apparatus) – a timed test – I was first by 1 full minute of all my probationary (male) counterparts! In the second test event – using the jaws of life to cut a fender off a car – I realized all my gear was a size “too” (too big) causing gripping problems with my gloved hands, stepping into the push of the tool (too big boots kept coming off) and so on. So I balanced the tool on my hip and used a very female motion of same to push the tool, keeping my gloved hands on the tool to steady and guide it. I finished in record time – again. Pleased with myself I turned to my fellow proby’s and said “THAT, gentlemen, is the real reason God gave women hips!” (and I might have added “…and brains”!) I suspect the success of the women with the hammers is mych the same – if one doesn’t have the muscle then one uses whatever else one has to “problem solve” – and get the job done. Try not to allow the results to keep you awake – unless, of course, you’d like to consider who thought of such a study and who was gullible enough to pay for it….And I bet it wasn’t a woman – we already know we have nothing to prove to anyone.
“we already know we have nothing to prove to anyone”
…as illustrated by your writing the longest post on this blog about how you “proved” yourself “better” than your male counterparts.
Ummm, OK.
Maybe hammering in the dark is a metphore.
How many men and women were included in this study?
This was already predetermined at U Mass also known as Zoo Mass for obvious reasons.
It turns out that this “study” included only 3 women and 4 men.
I suggest that this is not sufficient to draw any serious conclusions about the broader population, making the rest of the discussion somewhat pointless until more and better data is obtained.