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What is the evolutionary benefit of the 'Asian look'? If women are inclined to choose other looks how can it be that men with Asian features have obviously been
by birdsbirdsbirds 6y ago
What is the evolutionary benefit of the 'Asian look'? If women are inclined to choose other looks how can it be that men with Asian features have obviously been chosen for thousands of years?
- Baeocystin 6y agoWell, the East-Asian variant of the EDAR gene seems to have been strongly selected for: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/15/science/studying-recent-human-evolution-at-the-genetic-level.html https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/15/science/studying-recent-h... Like most genes, it affects all sorts of systems at once, so pinning down which of its changes from the ancestral type are most responsible for the selection is a very difficult problem. Empirically it has clearly been a successful variant, though.
- knaq 6y agoI don't think it's obvious that those men were chosen for thousands of years. In those long-gone societies, did the women really get to pick men based on looks? Maybe they didn't get to pick at all, or maybe they picked based on survival resources. In most cases, it isn't even possible for male looks and female looks to be separately selected. That can only happen if a sex-specific gene promoter is in front of the gene. Most traits are selected without regard to sex. So if selection by looks is mostly a matter of men choosing women, traits that create attractive women will spread through the population even if those traits are also changing male appearance in ways that women dislike.
- symlinkk 6y agoIsn’t it blatantly obvious? For thousands of years women could only pick from one of a few guys in her village, if she could pick at all. Now a woman can download an app and swipe through hundreds of men in minutes. That allows her to pick what she wants.