Question:
I don't understand how the 'traditionally' male versions of the 'traditionally' female jobs don't involve as much standing up and walking around. I thought this was something to do with body chemistry. Men don't get celulite, and I thought that we don't get very close veins, either.

Answer: -Personally I think men are getting varicose veins because more of them are childbearing now. That's when me mum's would act up, anyway. Yabbut doctors (unless they're surgeons) aren't on their feet all day. BUT...what about all the male construction workers, factory workers and other jobs where standing up and lifting heavy stuff is required? If that sort of thing were the cause of varicose veins, plenty of men shoulda had 'em before, eh? -I seem to recall that it's standing, and *not* walking that is conducive to varicose veins. The act of walking (ie flexing the calf muscle) is what pumps blood back up the veins to the heart. You see, by the time blood has reached the veins, there is very little blood pressure left to push it back up again, and that is why veins have those little valves in them, to stop the blood seeping back the wrong way. I know, it's in layman's terms, but that is how it was described to me by a doctor/surgeon. Anyway, I know a bloke who was a merchant seamen, and he stood around for hours at a time on shift while on watch or on the bridge, and he got varocise veins in his early twenties.