Re: [Pen-l] "race" and sexual selection

[Michael Perelman <michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Would people want to choose mates who look like their parents [God forbid 
my daughter follows this pattern] for biological reasons for cultural 
reasons? I've always been struck by old paintings of women who were 
reportedly very gorgeous in their times.

I remember when I was very young hearing people talk about how beautiful 
Betty Grable's legs were. I hadn't seen her in a movie and I could not 
imagine admiring my young classmates on account of their beautiful legs. I 
wondered what would beautiful legs look like. When I saw one of her movies, 
I still couldn't figure out exactly why those legs were beautiful, but 
probably some cultural conditioning had me unconsciously incorporating 
Betty Grable into my idea of beauty, even though I can not remember what 
either she or her legs look like.

I never went to school with any like children until the seventh grade. My 
school was predominantly made up of poor Irish and Catholic kids. By the 
seventh grade, my idea of beauty was probably fairly well established.



-- 
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
michaelperelman.wordpress.com
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