Tim Tyler  wrote:

> Larry Moran  wrote or quoted:
> 
> > This is all very interesting but it doesn't answer the question. Are
> > there any studies to indicate that beauty is correlated with ability
> > to reproduce and are there any studies that describe the genetic 
> > components of beauty? In order for there to be selection for particular
> > facial features there have to be genes that have a direct effect on
> > facial appearance and there have to alleles for genes that modify the
> > response to that appearance. All of these are possible, but they 
> > seem to be implicitly assumed rather than seriously examined.
> > 
> > Another assuption seems to be that facial beauty correlates with
> > reproductive success. Most of the people who post here seem to assume
> > that men only marry beautiful women and all the ugly ones die  
> > childless. This does not correspond to my experience. As far as I
> > know the vast majority of women in any society contribute their genes
> > to the next generation. I doubt very much that there's a detectable
> > difference between the facial beauty of successful vs. non-successful
> > mothers. Such a difference is absolutely essential for any adaptionist
> > just-so story. Does anyone have any data to suggest that facial beauty
> > correlates with evolutionary fitness either now or in the past?
> 
> No studies - but the annual expenditure on lipstick, eye shadow,
> eyebrow highlighters, eyelash curlers, face blush - and the like -
> suggests that at least the females think that female beauty matters.
> 
> I figure they know what they are doing.  It suggests female choice
> isn't the whole story - in humans.
> 
> Beauty may not affect the chance of reproduction for women much - but it
> might well influence who you get to do it with - and that matters -
> if you don't want to hitch your genetic wagon to a rock.

I sometimes suspect that the ways women make themselves appear has more
to do with social status among women than mating among men, especially
since the makeup continues after mating and reproduction :-)

This may, of course, contribute to fitness, if social dominance equals
improvement of resources for progeny...
-- 
John Wilkins
wilkins.id.au
"Men mark it when they hit, but do not mark it when they miss" 
                                               - Francis Bacon
---
þ RIMEGate(tm)/RGXPost V1.14 at BBSWORLD * Info{at}bbsworld.com

---
 * RIMEGate(tm)V10.2áÿ* RelayNet(tm) NNTP Gateway * MoonDog BBS
 * RgateImp.MoonDog.BBS at 1/26/04 3:13:05 PM