On average, the length of the index finger (digit 2) divided by the length of the ring finger (digit 4) on the right hand, is greater in women than in men. Converging evidence makes it clear that prenatal androgens affect the development of digit ratios in humans and so are likely responsible for this sex difference. Thus, differences in 2D:4D between groups within a sex may be due to average differences between those groups in prenatal androgen exposure. There have been many reports that lesbians, on average, have a smaller (more masculine) digit ratio than straight women, which has been confirmed by metaanalysis. These findings indicate that lesbians were, on average, exposed to greater prenatal androgen than straight women, which further indicates that greater levels of prenatal androgen predispose humans to be attracted to women in adulthood. Nevertheless, these results only apply to group differences between straight women and lesbians; digit ratios cannot be used to classify individual women as gay or straight.
Keywords: 2D:4D; Androgen; Digit ratios; Humans; Lesbians; Organizational hypothesis; Sexual orientation.
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