+

Cookies on the Business Insider India website

Business Insider India has updated its Privacy and Cookie policy. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the better experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we\'ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the Business Insider India website. However, you can change your cookie setting at any time by clicking on our Cookie Policy at any time. You can also see our Privacy Policy.

Close
HomeQuizzoneWhatsappShare Flash Reads
 

Here's why men are much more likely to be colorblind

Aug 1, 2016, 21:27 IST

National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health

Colorblindness is a fairly common condition where a person's eyes conflate certain colors or don't see colors at all.

Advertisement

It's also way more common in men than in women. But why?

The most commons forms of colorblindness are genetic conditions, passed along the x-chromosome. People with an x-chromosome and a y-chromosome only need their one x to be defective to catch it. People with two x-chromosomes need both to be defective.

Most women have two x-chromosomes (XX), and most men have an x-chromosome and a y-chromosome (XY). That's why colorblindness is much more common in men than in women.

My mother's father was colorblind. He was XY had one defective x-chromosome, which he passed to my mother. But my mother is XX. Her x, which she got from her mother, works fine. So she isn't colorblind. But she is a carrier.

Advertisement

That means that when she has a child, she has a 50% chance of passing that defective x-chromosome along.

My father (XY) passed me a y-chromosome. And my mother passed me her defective x. That means my only x is defective, so I'm colorblind. If they had an XX child tomorrow, that child would have a 50% chance of becoming a carrier like my mother. If my father were colorblind as well (he isn't), that two-x-chromosome child would have a 50% chance of being born colorblind, and would definitely be a carrier.

All of which is to say: It's much easier for an XY person to be colorblind, and most XY people are male. That's why men are much more likely to be colorblind.

NOW WATCH: Here's how long the average man lasts in bed

Please enable Javascript to watch this video
You are subscribed to notifications!
Looks like you've blocked notifications!
Next Article