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>It makes evolutionary sense for women to invest heavily in being good-looking and men to invest heavily in, y'know, accomplishing actual stuff. You really hav

>It makes evolutionary sense for women to invest heavily in being good-looking and men to invest heavily in, y'know, accomplishing actual stuff. You really have no understanding of what housekeeping entailed before the washing machine, dryer, running water, the supermarket, etc. These were fundamentally hard tasks. Women had to get their hands dirty just as much, if not more than men. This historic role of women has disappeared because it is no longer an accomplishment to say "I did the laundry." The idea that a woman's ability to reproduce is a function of looks is a product of the past century, during which society's gender roles have not kept pace with the obsolescence of formerly 'feminine' tasks. All of the tasks once reserved for women due to their difficulty (and possibly innate ability) have become trivial tasks. As such the only thing that influences reproduction is looks. At least, unless we can start using that wasted human power to, y'know, accomplish actual stuff.

hugh3 17y ago
In the conditions under which humans evolved I'm pretty sure there was no such thing as "doing the laundry. I do concede, though, that I was overly facetious in describing what men do as "actual stuff". Still, men and women are under greatly different selection pressures. Men place a greater emphasis on appearance when choosing their mates, women place a greater emphasis on power and status. Perhaps this is because traditionally-female skills are such that there's not a great deal of benefit in being especially good at them. A man gains a small benefit from having as a wife the best basket-weaver in the tribe, but a woman and her children gain a huge benefit from having as a husband the tribe's chief or its best hunter.
- bct 17y ago
  > I do concede, though, that I was overly facetious in describing what men do as "actual stuff". 1. It's not funny. 2. People actually believe that (even if you don't). 3. That's the problem!

hugh3 17y ago

In the conditions under which humans evolved I'm pretty sure there was no such thing as "doing the laundry. I do concede, though, that I was overly facetious in describing what men do as "actual stuff". Still, men and women are under greatly different selection pressures. Men place a greater emphasis on appearance when choosing their mates, women place a greater emphasis on power and status. Perhaps this is because traditionally-female skills are such that there's not a great deal of benefit in being especially good at them. A man gains a small benefit from having as a wife the best basket-weaver in the tribe, but a woman and her children gain a huge benefit from having as a husband the tribe's chief or its best hunter.

bct 17y ago
> I do concede, though, that I was overly facetious in describing what men do as "actual stuff". 1. It's not funny. 2. People actually believe that (even if you don't). 3. That's the problem!