Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 4: Sexual Selection In ManEllis, Havelock
Science
Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 4: Sexual Selection In Man
Ellis, Havelock
Sex; Sex (Psychology)
It is interesting to point out, in this connection, that the
admiration of strength is not confined to the human female. It is
by the spectacle of his force that the male among many of the
lower animals sexually affects the female. Darwin duly allows for
this fact, while some evolutionists, and notably Wallace,
consider that it covers the whole field of sexual selection. When
choice exists, Wallace states, "all the facts appear to be
consistent with the choice depending on a variety of male
characteristics, with some of which color is often correlated.
Thus, it is the opinion of some of the best observers that vigor
and liveliness are most attractive, and these are, no doubt,
usually associated with some intensity of color, ... There is
reason to believe that it is his [the male bird's] persistency
and energy rather than his beauty which wins the day." (A.R.
Wallace, _Tropical Nature_, 1898, p. 199.) In his later book,
_Darwinism_ (p. 295), Wallace reaffirms his position that sexual
selection means that in the rivalry of males for the female the
most vigorous secures the advantage; "ornament," he adds, "is the
natural product and direct outcome of superabundant health and
vigor." As regards woman's love of strength, see Westermarck,
_History of Marriage_, p. 255.
Women admire a man's strength rather than his beauty. This statement is
commonly made, and with truth, but, so far as I am aware, its meaning is
never analyzed. When we look into it, I think, we shall find that it leads
us into a special division of the visual sphere of sexual allurement. The
spectacle of force, while it remains strictly within the field of vision,
really brings to us, although unconsciously, impressions that are
correlated with another sense--that of touch. We instinctively and
unconsciously translate visible energy into energy of pressure. In
admiring strength we are really admiring a tactile quality which has been
made visible. It may therefore be said that, while through vision men are
sexually affected mainly by the more purely visual quality of beauty,
women are more strongly affected by visual impressions which express
qualities belonging to the more fundamentally sexual sense of touch.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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