In the circumstances where males due to greater strength and
ability to mate with more partners than females, play a more
active role in partner selection, it is natural that they will
have stronger feeling of preference ( = "sense of beauty"), and
female[ gene-set]s would concentrate on developing bodies
corresponding to these preferences. The evolved male-specific
parts of the beauty-recognition system may have been shared with
females after it was developed in males; I would expect that
gender-specific genes would occasionally mix - just to test
whether one sex's invention may be of use for the other.
That's how you can find nipples on men or same-sex preferences.
(That's all my speculation).
Some recognition criteria may be too broad and exploited in
"perversions" - I think sexy ("aerodynamic") curves played a
significant role in my buying a Saturn, or our liking panthers,
vases, or paintings. Same with voices, etc.
As the population needs a diverse set of physical features,
it needs a diverse set of aesthetic preferences; these sets
coevolve, both driving and mirroring each other.
On another note:
I used to feel somewhat embarrassed of having a preference for
females in *friendly* conversations; I have a definite sexual
preference here, but I didn't like thinking that I choose a
woman for a friend only because I (subconsciously) find her
promising as a sexual objects. Later I figured it out: I like
discussing personal issues with people who are sensitive and
have expressive faces. With that present, the gender doesn't
matter [that much]. Unfortunately, males seem naturally less
sensitive - and most regretfully, in the course of social
"progress" they squashed much of their innate sensitivity
with the outgrowth of macho behavior, where displaying
emotions, wearing makeup, paying attention to little personal
interactions, etc. are strongly discouraged.
So instead of using social and technological progress to
overcome personal limitations here, people use them to aggravate
the situation. Not all people, of course...
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Alexander Chislenko <sasha1@netcom.com> www.lucifer.com/~sasha/home.html
Firefly Network, Inc.: <alexc@firefly.net> www.ffly.com 617-234-5452
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