Is stooping inherited?
A son often stands and walks like his father. If the father stoops, chances are the son has also developed a stoop — or at least shows clear signs of developing one. So yes, stooping is inherited. The real question is: “How does the inheritance work?”
Is stooping inherited genetically?
Whenever we talk about inheritance, we tend to assume it’s a genetic thing, encoded in our DNA. However, genetics is not the only mechanism for passing characteristics from father to son. A complete list of kinds of father-to-son inheritance would have to include at least:—
- genetic inheritance
- ideas that the father has taught his son
- mannerisms the son has copied from his father
- traits they share from living in the same environment
- legal inheritance of money and possessions
Which of these is the mechanism for inheriting a stoop? If you think about it enough you’ll see ways in which all of them could be. Even inheritance of possessions (or the lack of it) could cause the son to copy his father’s stoop!
So which is the most common reason for inheriting a stoop?
The real reason why we stoop
We all constantly pick up quirks and mannerisms from the people around us: accents, facial expressions, reactions to common events, food tastes, personal preferences — and postural habits.
Picking up such mannerisms is as natural — and difficult to avoid — as breathing the same air, eating the same foods and drinking the same water. If the people around you walk with a stoop, you will naturally copy them unless you do something to prevent it. Usually, by the time you realise there is a problem your habit of stooping has become so much a part of you that it is virtually impossible to get rid of.
Debunking the “stoop gene”
So why do people immediately tend to imagine there must be a “stoop gene” that some have and some haven’t? Two reasons:-
- People who have developed the habit of stooping rarely find out how to get rid of that habit again. That permanence can easily seem a good enough reason for believing in the inheritance of a “stoop gene”.
- A lot of so-could thought is itself just a mannerism, a “thought-tick” that people catch and copy from the people around them. Such mannerisms often gain credibility from the mis-application of well-known scientific theories. The “a gene for everything” explanation of inheritance is one such mannerism. It takes a little real thought to realise that the idea of a “stoop gene” is not as well-founded as it appears on the surface.
Discovering the habitual, non-genetic nature of stooping requires more than a little careful consideration. Do you agree?
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