action of sexual selection with mankind On the women in savage tribes
having some power to choose their husbands Absence of hair on the body,
and development of the beard Colour of the skin Summary.
We have seen in the last chapter that with all barbarous races
ornaments, dress, and external appearance are highly valued; and that
the men judge of the beauty of their women by widely different
standards. We must next inquire whether this preference and the
consequent selection during many generations of those women, which
appear to the men of each race the most attractive, has altered the
character either of the females alone, or of both sexes. With mammals
the general rule appears to be that characters of all kinds are
inherited equally by the males and females; we might therefore expect
that with mankind any characters gained by the females or by the males
through sexual selection would commonly be transferred to the offspring
of both sexes. If any change has thus been effected, it is almost
certain that the different races would be differently modified, as each
has its own standard of beauty.
With mankind, especially with savages, many causes interfere with the
action of sexual selection as far as the bodily frame is concerned.
Civilised men are largely attracted by the mental charms of women, by
their wealth, and especially by their social position; for men rarely
marry into a much lower rank. The men who succeed in obtaining the more
beautiful women will not have a better chance of leaving a long line of
descendants than other men with plainer wives, save the few who
bequeath their fortunes according to primogeniture. With respect to the
opposite form of selection, namely, of the more attractive men by the
women, although in civilised nations women have free or almost free
choice, which is not the case with barbarous races, yet their choice is
largely influenced by the social position and wealth of the men; and
the success of the latter in life depends much on their intellectual
powers and energy, or on the fruits of these same powers in their
forefathers. No excuse is needed for treating this subject in some
detail; for, as the German philosopher Schopenhauer remarks, the final
aim of all love intrigues, be they comic or tragic, is really of more
importance than all other ends in human life. What it all turns upon is
nothing less than the composition of the next generation...It is not
the weal or woe of any one individual, but that of the human race to
come, which is here at stake. (1. Schopenhauer and Darwinism, in
610