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Perpetual Fashion Victims
How necessity makes fools of us all
One of the delightful traits of our species is the lengths we go to in order to appeal to potential mates. There appears to be no limit to the disfigurements we are willing to undergo and no limit to the damage we are prepared to inflict on ourselves in our desperate pursuit of attention.
This is because attracting a mate is of supreme importance to all animals. Unless we can secure mating opportunities we won’t pass on our genes, and consequently our genes ensure that we are driven to often quite extreme measures in order that others may perceive us as being a valid option. This is true even if, in our conscious minds, we feel no particular urgency to create tiny mewling babies of our own.
In most animal species it is primarily one gender doing the attracting and the other gender doing the choosing, determined by which of the two will bring the most significant resources to bear. This is especially true where a small number of dominant males will create harems around them or where females contribute nearly everything required to bring up their young. In yet other species, temporary or permanent pair-bonds may be established because both participants bring resources of nearly equal value.
