commonground

Not a big fan of this article.

1.
-Yes, men like blonde women. But the explanations are a bit shaky.
-It is true that hip to waist ratio is very important, and this trait is attractive in all cultures regardless of their preferences for weight. It is definitely an indicator of fertility.
-The breast question is still open ended, in my opinion.

2.
They went for shock value here. Humans are naturally monogamous, with frequent occurence of extra pair mating, and moderate occurance of polygyny. They do say that
the polygyny is relatively infrequent later on, but the statement is misleading. Plus there's no mention of extra pair mating, which in my view is a reprehensible omission.

3.
Totally false. A woman will want a man that can provide her with the best reproductive success possible. If a man with other wives has enough resources for another, and this outweighs the resources that she can get from a single man, then in general she will go for that option. For the man, there is a similar problem. The more wives he has, the more children he is guaranteed, theoretically- however, with more females, he risks that one or more will be fathered by another man. With more females, mate guarding becomes more difficult.

4.
There are some true things in there, but the conclusions they draw from it are a bit iffy. An excess of unmarried (or unmated) males does increase violence. But I would like to see some data that establishes a strong population of single males in these countries. As for suicide bombings specifically? I would think that they are primarily cultural and very few conclusions about what makes it attractive can be drawn from it, at least in the perspective they use.

5.
Don't buy the explanation at all.

6.
Rings true, but I'd like to read the papers. You can't trust those psychologists.

7.
This is a very well established phenomenon. And it makes perfect sense. There's pretty much no reason for the incredible nature of human behavior besides demonstrating one's quality as a mate. Man take more risks because they're playing a different game then women are, for whom caution is generally better. (This is true behaviorally and in evolution- i.e. men and women have the same average IQ but there are more men on the high and low ends- an evolutionary gamble)

8.
Cute. I like it. And, honestly, there's very strong evolutionary pressure for men to attract another mate when the kids are grown and the wife is useless. But I'm not going to stake my life on the explanation, either.

9.
Worded incorrectly, but the correct concept behind it is that males should have extra pair matings whenever possible. And in the case of men with resources, they know they have an easier time of obtaining mates, so even if they're caught, it's not as big a cost. This is not true for a lower quality male who might lose his only real chance of reproductive sucess in a monogamous relationship.

10.
Sort of right, sort of wrong. Men sexually harrass women because they want to sleep with them. They wouldn't do it to men because, for the most part, they don't want to sleep with men... so in that manner it is sexual harrassment. But is it purposeful discrimination because they think women are inferior or can't do their job? For the most part, no.

Posted by: Renee | July 11, 2007 09:41 AM

Men prefer blonde haired, blue eyed women (1)? Maybe if they're blonde haired and blue eyed themselves. Then they have a better chance of knowing if the babies are theirs, where brown is bad. Personally, I've always thought blue eyed people look diseased and unhealthy, but I have brown eyes, so I might be biased.

Posted by: Kent Kauffman | July 11, 2007 06:50 PM