Trusted, Automoderated users
17,538
edits
Neoteny: Difference between revisions
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
→Evolution of female neoteny
| Line 8: | Line 8: | ||
== Evolution of female neoteny == | == Evolution of female neoteny == | ||
Due to sex differences in [[Bateman's principle|parental investment]], women evolved to be | Due to sex differences in [[Bateman's principle|parental investment]], women evolved to be coy and choosy, and men evolved to be taller and stronger than women in an evolutionary arms race among men competing for reproductive opportunities. As a result, women became dependent on men's resources.<ref>https://incels.wiki/w/Scientific_Blackpill_(Supplemental)#Women_were_historically_predominantly_involved_in_cooking_and_they_never_dominated_men</ref> | ||
Due to women's resource-dependence, it is | Due to women's resource-dependence, it is probable that they retain child-like features such that males are encouraged to invest into them.<ref name="vox2016">https://www.vox.com/2016/6/8/11872688/ugly-babies-discrimination</ref> Men's attraction to neotenous females may hence be explained by higher survival rates of cute looking female offspring, with the female offspring being much more dependent on surviving by mere cuteness than the males. Neoteny serves the same purpose in other animals,<ref name="vox2016"></ref> and due to the relatedness of species, the signaling works across different species, leading e.g. humans to breed cute looking pets that they take pleasure in providing for. | ||
Interestingly, women’s preferences for men’s facial neoteny (rather than masculinity) are strongest under disfavorable ecological conditions,<ref>https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-39350-8</ref> which may result from similar evolved mate preferences that ensure higher survival rates by cute looking offspring (which is related to [[wikipedia:Travis-Willard hypothesis|Travis-Willard hypothesis]], which states that the sex ratio at birth skews female under harsh conditions due to women having a higher survival rate). | |||
In addition to that, female neoteny may also have been selected for in efforts of [[paternity assurance|ensuring paternity]]. As women bear the offspring, they can be certain their offspring is their's, different from men. As a result, men have evolved to desire certainty about their paternity. Moreover, being providers of resources, men have extra incentive to minimize the chances of investing in someone else's offspring. Men can best achieve this certainty by monopolizing girls as early as possible, preventing other men from impregnating them. Further, men may have evolved to prefer childish, weak, submissive and obedient women, as those are easy to control. Gowaty (1992) writes: | In addition to that, female neoteny may also have been selected for in efforts of [[paternity assurance|ensuring paternity]]. As women bear the offspring, they can be certain their offspring is their's, different from men. As a result, men have evolved to desire certainty about their paternity. Moreover, being providers of resources, men have extra incentive to minimize the chances of investing in someone else's offspring. Men can best achieve this certainty by monopolizing girls as early as possible, preventing other men from impregnating them. Further, men may have evolved to prefer childish, weak, submissive and obedient women, as those are easy to control. Gowaty (1992) writes: | ||