Sexual Preference

• Biological Imperatives: Fitness and symmetry are key indicators for partners.

• Evolutionary Strategies: Women's long pregnancies and lack of ovulation signaling protect children.

• Trait Preferences: Men and women look for traits that provide advantages to offspring.

• Media Representation: Shows like "The Bachelor" display sexual selection traits for entertainment.

  
  

These points highlight the connection between evolutionary biology and modern media representations of sexual selection.

As our textbook notes, sexual preference is driven by biological imperatives that arose out of our evolutionary history.  While it may be nearly invisible to most people today, fitness and symmetry are key indicators for choosey partners who, underneath it all, are looking to spread their genes and ensure their survival.  I've always been partial to the theory that women's long pregnancies and lack of signaling when they ovulate has been a strategy for developing and protecting their children, carried over from our early ancestors and the monkeys that we read about in the assignment for this week.  I think women also look for physically and/or mentally fit men, where either trait can provide a distinct advantage if it is passed on to a child, and that men look for women with healthy bodies and attractive features, because these, too, are traits that will, in turn, allow for offspring to better compete in life.  Of course, idiosyncrasies and other traits of people can be very attractive to others, and these serve to enhance and otherwise already fit, potential mate.  Just anecdotally, having spent a lot of time with girls and women (as good friends), some of the biological imperatives come out in conversation say, when we're people watching or talking about boyfriends/husbands.

Sexual selection is on display in American media today.  I was reading an interesting story about how some people find this season of The Bachelor to be nearly the same as soft-core porn, and that some groups have petitioned to the studio to tone it down a bit with the sexuality expressed in the series.  And while I've only briefly watched it, and certainly find it a bit gross personally, it has crossed my mind that the show is an interesting experiment tangentially related to sexual and natural selection.  Confined together for so long on reality shows where relationships can develop, participants sort of engage in an intense crash-like experience evaluating potential mates that would otherwise (presumably) happen much more slowly in day-to-day life.  An attractive appearance or a solid mind can be an aphrodisiac, in some sense, and shows like The Bachelor put those features of sexual selection on display, for our entertainment today.