88 Tough Facts About Men You Probably Didn’t Know

Lionel Richie grew up in racially segregated Alabama and once unwittingly drank from a whites only fountain. White men confronted his father, who grabbed Richie and ran off. Richie asked his father why he didn’t stay and fight. His dad answered, “I had a choice: to be a man or be a father.”

2. A woman (Holly Van Voast) won $40,000 as a settlement from NYC due to police repeatedly arresting her for going topless in public. However, it's perfectly legal for men and women to be topless in NYC

3. In South Korea, men who win Olympic medals do not have to participate in the two-year long mandatory military service.

4. In 2011, two Nepali men (Babu Sunuwar and Lakpa Tsering Sherpa) climbed Mount Everest and then proceeded to paraglide off of the summit, landing 35 km away. They then hiked and kayaked to the Bay of Bengal, winning the pair National Geographic Adventurers of the Year.

5. When scientists first realized that American gay men and Africans in France were both suffering from the same disease (AIDS), French researchers sent over a sample to be tested. But a scientist with a grudge against the French Institute switched out the sample, setting research back years.

More than 10 years, 2 disabled men in China, one without arms and the other without sight, have been planting trees together and have so far planted more than 10,000.

7. Our walking speed is affected by whom we’re with: men’s pace slows down by an average of 7% when walking with female partners they’re interested in; women walking together move the slowest; & men walking with male friends moved at speeds faster than either man’s preferred walking speed.

8. Paul Revere did not complete his famous ride, he was captured by the British. He was riding with two other men, William Dawes escaped, then fell off his horse. The third man, Dr. Samuel Prescott, was the only one who actually made it to their destination, Concord.

9. Lord Acton's famous quote 'Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.' is immediately followed by 'Great men are almost always bad men'.

10. Hugh Jackman, at 1.90 (6ft 3in), stands 30cm taller than Wolverine, portrayed in the comic as 1.60 (5ft 3in). When they made X-Men (2000) the filmmakers were forced to shoot Jackman at unusual angles or from the waist up to make him appear shorter, and his co-stars wore platform soles.

In 1780, a slave named Elizabeth Freeman essentially ended slavery in Massachusetts by suing for her freedom on the basis that the new state constitution declared that all men are born free and equal.

12. Post-relationship grief affects men, in the long term, more than women.

13. Hugh Jackman accidentally stabbed the Mystique stuntwoman in the arm while filming the first X-Men movie. She looked at the gaping hole in her arm and said 'Yes! I have been stabbed by Wolverine!'

14. David Bowie's first TV appearance was in 1964 at the age of 17, but was not for his music. He was interviewed on the BBC's Tonight show as the founder of 'The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Long-Haired Men'.

15. Silas Soule, an abolitionist who, among other accomplishments, was present at the Sandy Creek Massacre where he refused to order his men to fire. He testified at Congress against his commanding officer and was murdered soon after, likely as a result of his testimony.

In a study on the appeal of chocolate, it took researchers 1 year to find 11 men who don't like chocolate

17. Women are twice as likely to initiate a suicide attempt but Men are four times more likely to succeed.

18. Winston Churchill, along with many of the Royal Navy's highest ranking men, came very close to death after the ship they were on was fired at by a U-boat with 3 torpedoes. All three struck the hull of the ship, but all failed to explode.

19. There is an anime and manga in Japan called Saint Young Men, which is about Jesus and Buddha living as roommates in Tokyo while taking a vacation on Earth and attempting to understand Japanese society.

20. The revolving door was invented because the inventor disliked the social convention of men holding doors for women.

About 50% of the men ejaculate in under two minutes and the average male expects to have intercourse for 18 minutes.

22. The first deodorant for men was launched in 1935 (decades after the introduction of deodorants for women) because, at the beginning of the 20th century, body odor was not considered a problem for men; it was a part of being masculine.

23. A study found that nearly half of all homeless men had suffered a "traumatic" brain injury, with 87% having sustained the injury prior to becoming homeless

24. In a private cemetery in small-town Arkansas, a woman (Ruth Coker Burks) single-handedly buried and gave funerals to more than 40 gay men during the height of the AIDS epidemic, when their families wouldn't claim them.

25. A ten-year psychological study found that men who kissed their wives before leaving for work, on average lived five years longer, earning 20 to 30% more than peers who left without a kiss.