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But he even contradicts himself in that post. He has an example of a modern experiment where people select brunettes over blondes because of rarity. So if euro

But he even contradicts himself in that post. He has an example of a modern experiment where people select brunettes over blondes because of rarity. So if european whiteness is a product of sexual selection of rare blondes, why didn't it swing the other way when the majority of the population were blonde? In some parts of Sweden and Finland, 85% of the adults are blonde, how could it ever go way above 50%? If the hypothesis was true, then people in those areas would have strongly selected brunettes and reversed it?

thaumasiotes 14y ago
Here's what I understand of Frost's opinions: > if european whiteness is a product of sexual selection of rare blondes It isn't. European whiteness (of skin) is a product of women being more heavily selected than men, since paleness of skin is a sex characteristic of females. (For example, african boys are born light, and darken over time. African girls are born light, darken until puberty, and then lighten.) European variation in hair and eye color (but not skin color) is a color polymorphism typical of sexual selection. On this theory, 85% of adults sharing the identical hair color is unexpected. ----- Here are some of my own thoughts on your question (I claim no qualification at all to pontificate here): - What size are these "some parts of Sweden and Finland"? The smaller they are, the less interesting it is that they might appear uniform. - Do 85% of adults share the identical hair color, or is variation being binned into the category "blonde"? Compare the internal variation of african or chinese hair color.
coldarchon 14y ago
Because the genes for being blond or red haired are connected to the perception of pain. Blond people feel less pain than dark haired people and red haired even more. During a time when there was no tooth brush and cereals full of sugar became the main nutrition, this was definitely a factor of vitality and therefor being attractive.

thaumasiotes 14y ago

Here's what I understand of Frost's opinions: > if european whiteness is a product of sexual selection of rare blondes It isn't. European whiteness (of skin) is a product of women being more heavily selected than men, since paleness of skin is a sex characteristic of females. (For example, african boys are born light, and darken over time. African girls are born light, darken until puberty, and then lighten.) European variation in hair and eye color (but not skin color) is a color polymorphism typical of sexual selection. On this theory, 85% of adults sharing the identical hair color is unexpected. ----- Here are some of my own thoughts on your question (I claim no qualification at all to pontificate here): - What size are these "some parts of Sweden and Finland"? The smaller they are, the less interesting it is that they might appear uniform. - Do 85% of adults share the identical hair color, or is variation being binned into the category "blonde"? Compare the internal variation of african or chinese hair color.

coldarchon 14y ago

Because the genes for being blond or red haired are connected to the perception of pain. Blond people feel less pain than dark haired people and red haired even more. During a time when there was no tooth brush and cereals full of sugar became the main nutrition, this was definitely a factor of vitality and therefor being attractive.