Kevin Rooney said:
I think that's the point some of us are trying to make, albeit indirectly - there's little scientific info available.
Actually there has been a significant amount of scientific study of the effects of anoxia, due to altitude or otherwise. It has been studied for pilots, climbers, residents of high places, people with lung problems (emphasema, etc), etc. Climbers make good subjects because they are healthy individuals who voluntarily expose themselves to altitude and push the limits.
Many of the (particularly earlier) Everest expiditions used the climbers as subjects to study the effects of altitude. And there has been a continuing sharing of experience as humans attemted to climb the higher peaks. The modern climbers have a significant advantage over earlier climbers due to this accumulated knowledge.
References:
Going Higher: Oxygen, Man, and Mountains, 5th Ed, by Charles S Houston, MD is one of the better, perhaps the best reference for the mountaineering community.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_g...ords=going+higher+houston&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go
http://www.rei.com/online/store/Pro...99&parent_category_rn=4500417&vcat=REI_SEARCH
Includes an extensive bibliography.
Medicine for Mountaineering, edited by James A Wilkerson, MD also has a good section on altitude acclimatization and diseases of altitude.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_g...untaineering+by+wilkerson&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go
http://www.rei.com/online/store/Pro...9&parent_category_rn=10574127&vcat=REI_SEARCH
There is a short section in Freedom of the Hills. If you are seriously interested, get Houston's book.
A significant portion of the info on the effects of altitude that I post here can be found in these references.
BTW, the oft repeated advice of drink a lot of water is only part of dealing with altitude. Altitude scheduling, where you sleep, how hard you work at altitude, what you eat, etc are all factors.
To address the orignal question, Houston does not list "men", "women", or "gender" in his index (in my 1983 edition). He only lists "sex" in relation to performing it at altitude. (Now lots of people will rush out and buy the book...
) There is also a small amount on fertility (reduced) and menstruation (seems similar to low alttitudes, but some evidence to the contrary).
Doug