Quote: (10-10-2014 05:37 PM)Sonsowey Wrote:
Beauty does not have so much reproductive value.
This post is ancient, but I figured I'd respond anyway.
Beauty
is reproductive value. All of the traits we consider "beautiful" (ex: smooth skin, long hair, firm breasts, hourglass figure, etc) are just fertility cues. We are attracted to them because they are just signals that a given woman is more likely to carry a healthy child.
That being said, you are right to note that the most beautiful women are not necessarily those who have the largest number of children. We must also consider, however, how much of that is man-made.
If you live in a society where the facts of life are such that a large number of women who would otherwise be considered beautiful and have most of the fertility cues we like to see are instead covered in layers of fat, can we say we're getting a really accurate picture of things? If man-made factors that artificially limit the supply of beautiful women in that society were corrected (ex: diets improved, sedentary lifestyles limited more effectively, etc), we'd see more beautiful women and perhaps we'd see a more accurate reflection of the reproductive value beauty has.