Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2020 October 9

= October 9 =

Genes and crime by sex question
Are genes a part of the reason as to why men are, on average, more violent than women are? Futurist110 (talk) 03:06, 9 October 2020 (UTC)
 * There's an article called Sex differences in crime. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 03:34, 9 October 2020 (UTC)
 * That article doesn't go into much depth on the causes of criminal activity differences between men and women, and what coverage it gives is rather heavily slanted toward social explanations - biology isn't really explored much, other than a brief mention of testosterone. The linked article on the evolutionary neuroandrogenic theory has more biological info, but again the y chromosome isn't directly covered. PaleCloudedWhite (talk) 04:26, 9 October 2020 (UTC)
 * That reflects the field of criminology at large and the fact that crime is socially defined. Issues of aggression, anti-social behaviour, etc. are typically what is investigated folks interested in (epi)genetics.  Eve rgr een Fir  (talk) 04:30, 9 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Going back to the original question, it's worth noting that the OP asked about violence, rather than criminality, and though I expect there to be sufficient overlap between the two that the latter may be a proxy of sorts for the former, it doesn't always hold true - e.g. someone who, when frustrated with, say, a DIY project that's going badly, forcefully throws their tools around in a fit of rage, is committing an act with a degree of violence, though it isn't criminal. I've struck my comment after noticing the title of the section - duh! PaleCloudedWhite (talk) 07:08, 9 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Yeah, violence doesn't necessarily have to be criminal, but it often is and even if it's not criminal it can nevertheless sometimes be problematic. (Violence is, of course, also sometimes useful for self-defense, but I'm not talking about that specific kind of violence here.) Futurist110 (talk) 19:35, 9 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Is violence exerted by a civilian against another person, other than in self-defence or defence of others, ever lawful? --Lambiam 08:24, 10 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Rugby, Boxing and many other sports involve levels of violence that would put you in front of a judge if performed out of their context. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A01:E34:EF5E:4640:7CB8:CFDC:D93D:26F2 (talk) 09:22, 10 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Don't forget Roller derby, in which women can be just as violent as men - bleach-blonde bombers with a streak of mean. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 15:45, 10 October 2020 (UTC)
 * See also Aggression.--Shantavira|feed me 10:37, 9 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Also Testosterone and Biosocial criminology. Alansplodge (talk) 13:17, 10 October 2020 (UTC)