Darwin’s Take on Sexual Selection

In Charles Darwin’s novel The Descent of Man he discusses sexual selection. Further on in the reading he talks about the secondary sexual characters of man. I would like to briefly discuss some of Darwin’s description of the secondary sexual characters of man.

MEN

Darwin describes the sexual characters of man as the man being taller than the woman on average, as well as heavier, and stronger. The male has much more body hair than the female, as well as much more defined muscles than the female. Darwin also observed that men and women differ in skin tone. This variation differs from race to race. Sometimes the man is on average darker and sometimes the opposite is true.

WOMEN

The woman is described as having rounder features than man. She is also described as having a wider pelvis than man, but Darwin states that this is much more a primary characteristic than secondary because of its function for birthing children. Women have much less body hair the men do. This varies from race to race as well, on the actual amount of body hair, but on average the women has less body hair. Women also mature earlier than men. He says that men do not develop their most distinct sexual characteristics until they are fully mature. For example the beard for most men does not appear until he is closer to full maturity.

CHILDREN

Darwin describes male and female children as almost identical in appearance. He says that a young boy more closely resembles an adult woman than an adult man. When you look at the skulls of male and female children he states that the difference is undetectable. If the male child is emasculated then there is a chance that some of his more masculine sexual features will never fully mature.

INTELLIGENCE

Darwin also says much about the size of the male and female skull in relation to intelligence. He says that the size of the female skull in intermediate between that of a child and that of an adult male. He says that man has a more “intuitive genius” than woman does and is more “courageous, pugnacious, and energetic” than women are. Darwin states that in other species the higher intelligence of the male in comparison to the female is visible as it is in humans as well.

COMPARISONS BETWEEN PRIMATES AND HUMANS

In the Descent of Man Darwin compares the secondary sexual characteristics of the primates with those of humans. He states that different characteristics such as rate of maturity and beard growth are similar in both species, as well as the differences in strength and muscular definition among other characters.

VARIATIONS BETWEEN RACES

Darwin states that these secondary sexual characteristics can vary in each race and vary even more between different races. Darwin found that overall men vary in their secondary sexual characteristics more than women do. One example is the amount of body hair from race to race. In Europe and Asia Darwin said that beards can be found until you go past India. As well as the more north you go the more hair you find and the more south you go the less body hair you find in the indigenous people that inhabit that environment.

DIFFERENT MENTAL POWERS

The mental power of men and women is discussed in the Descent of man as well. The women have more materialistic behaviors than man does. Women are more sensitive, and less selfish than men are, while men enjoy competition and are seen as more selfish.

MELODY

Music and singing are described as a type of courtship. Women are thought to have used their voices for this purpose first because they possess sweeter and much gentler voices than men. The secondary sexual characteristic is compared between humans and other species in its method and usefulness.

ADORNMENTS

People in all different part of the world have in the past and continue to, change their appearances with piercing, tattoos, and other adornments for the sake of beauty. Some different groups were said to flatten the heads of their children with boards because it made them more beautiful. Others knock out the front teeth because they are seen as hideous. And as seen on the right some insert disks in their lower lips. Whatever the case may be these sometimes painful procedures are all done for the sake of the opposite sex.

All of these qualities and even more specific practices are what make up the secondary sexual characteristics of man from Darwin’s Point of view.

This information was acquired from The Descent of Man by Charles Darwin
On Google books this information can be found starting at pages 568 Throughout the section entitled "Sexual Selection in Relation to Man".