4 ms·

I believe the paper the parent comment linked used 'thick skin' as a metaphor for pain resistance, not literally deeper epidermis.

• jacobolus 4y ago
  I am pretty sure this is literally about skin thickness. Here is the list of false beliefs polled: Blacks age more slowly than whites; Blacks’ nerve endings are less sensitive than whites’; Black people’s blood coagulates more quickly than whites’; Whites have larger brains than blacks; Whites are less susceptible to heart disease than blacks; Blacks are less likely to contract spinal cord diseases; Whites have a better sense of hearing compared with blacks; Blacks’ skin is thicker than whites’; Blacks have denser, stronger bones than whites; Blacks have a more sensitive sense of smell than whites; Whites have a more efficient respiratory system than blacks; Black couples are significantly more fertile than white couples; Whites are less likely to have a stroke than blacks; Blacks are better at detecting movement than whites; Blacks have stronger immune systems than whites Apparently a majority of white laypeople think that black people literally have thicker skin. Among white first-year medical students, 40% believe this, dropping to 25% of white residents. Though in the narrow context of skin condition, it is true that people with darker skin “age more slowly”, i.e. have less age-related deterioration in skin quality because they are less susceptible to UV radiation. Minority groups in the USA are also more susceptible to cardiovascular disease, though that’s largely if not entirely attributable to environmental factors.
  • Auracle 4y ago
    I mean, as you hinted there are at least a few things on that list that are true. We’re in a weird period of time where people are desperate to ignore any differences between races but they absolutely exist as one would expect due to different evolutionary pressures. I don’t know how you’d go about testing some of those and many shouldn’t matter to doctors, but I personally think the differences between us are fascinating.
    • foldr 4y ago
      > We’re in a weird period of time where people are desperate to ignore any differences between races but they absolutely exist as one would expect due to different evolutionary pressures. This isn't really the case because 'races' aren't biologically definable categories, and hence have no direct relevance to evolution. There can be correlations between a person's assigned racial category in a given culture and certain biological features, such as e.g. propensity for sickle cell anaemia. However, this is just because there can be loose correlations between this category (which is usually assigned based on superficial features of appearance and cultural characteristics) and the areas of the world where the person's ancestors hail from. No serious scientific study of human difference pays any attention to race, as it is a largely arbitrary and culturally specific construct.