Sylvia's Journal

I finished reading (or rather listening to) Bryan Sykes’ book ‘Adam’s Curse,’ and when I returned it to the library I understood dumb male behavior: it’s all because of the degenerating Y chromosome.

Sykes is not only a genetics professor at Oxford University but also a bestselling author. He traced European women back to their first 7 mothers (or aunties) through the study of mitochondrial DNA (The Seven Daughters of Eve). Now he is tracing the journeys of the Y chromosomes and because he is a man himself he can be brutally honest about the sorry state of the sex. In a delightful interview in the New York Times some years ago, he talks about his discoveries about the Y chromosome, which he calls ”a graveyard of rotting genes.”

Since the Y chromosome passes unchanged from one generation to the next – it doesn’t recombine (the mother doesn’t have one) it can never fix its own defects. Moreover, those Y chromosomes that belong to the winners (think force, wealth and many women) get passed on more than those belonging to poor losers. Thus, the survival of the Y chromosome has been directly linked to the kind of aggressive male behavior that has wrought havoc with the world. Hence the title of the book.

Sykes maintains that the world would be better off without males. He thinks it will take another 100 to 200 thousand years for the Y chromosome to completely self destruct. By then we will have figured out how to reproduce without the Y chromosome and every new baby will be a girl.

So now, each time I see men do stupid things (including those in my own household who I love dearly), I feel sorry for them and chalk it up to their defective Y chromosome. And lately I have seen some really stupid male behavior around me, on TV (watch Super Nanny for a few episodes), and in the newspapers.

When Bonnie gave me my haircut yesterday and talked about her abusive husband and son I told her that it is just a matter of time before that line of an obviously very defective Y chromosome will come to the end of the road.