"Women and children first" is a myth, at least in shipwrecks

[lady_*nix]

An oldie, but interesting and disturbing:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/women-and- ... chers-say/

When ships sink, it's very rare IRL for crews to prio saving women and children. Crew members are more likely to survive than passengers, and in particular, men behave very selfishly and abuse their physical advantage - they are four times more likely to survive a shipwreck than women.

Kinda puts the lie to the infamous Heinlein quote, or at least the way he seems to have intended it.

What's weird to me about this is, in a lot of disasters on land, people are less likely to behave selfishly. Maybe the time limit and panic cause people to prioritize themselves. But I also can't help thinking a lot of this is plain old sexist indoctrination, and the numbers would be less skewed if men and women prio'd saving themselves/others at the same rate.

[Rommie]

Nah, it's 100% due to the Titanic, IMO. (Which is what the article also implies.)

Frankly though, I'm pretty convinced a lot of it is just practical- lots of sinkings happen pretty quickly, so if you have a few minutes to get off a ship who's gonna do it better proportionately, people who work on the ship and know its layout or a mom with two kids who is less familiar? This example is one that comes to mind- it was a sinking where 1/7 people died, because if you didn't react quickly you'd be stuck on the ship, and of those who survived most were ones who thought about what they were doing and didn't freeze. And otherwise there's a slight correlation for people who were younger and more fit. Really a no brainer if you think about it.