Paul Ciszek  wrote or quoted:

> Are there any other examples, ouside of humans, of females having an 
> unnecessary and possibly detrimental display feature to attract males?

There are.

See, for example, ornamentation in female two-spotted gobies - as 
described on:

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=60783

``This experiment is simple, and its design and results are similar to a 
  long line of previous studies of female mate choice (17) and a few 
  studies of male mate choice. But because this was a study of male mate 
  choice and because the female characteristic studied was an ornamental 
  trait that varies independently of fecundity and reproductive state, 
  the implications are surprising and novel. All similar experiments 
  showing female preference based on male ornaments imply, albeit 
  indirectly, that the ornament is likely to have evolved by sexual 
  selection resulting from the female mating preference. The novel 
  implication here is that the female ornament, too, has evolved by 
  sexual selection, but this time resulting from male mate choice.''

In animals, serious sexually-transmitted diseases are a good reason
for male choice to be a significant force.

The result may be enough selection pressure to favour sexual
ornamentation (and maybe even handicaps) in females.
-- 
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