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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   3232 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 6, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

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Is there anything to thé theory that the relatively early shift to love matches over arranged marriages has selected Western Europeans for greater phenotypic attractiveness?

That doesn’t make a ton of sense.

You’d only get a selection pressure if love matches offered a competitive advantage to attractive/attractive couples over attractive/ugly or ugly/ugly ones. My understanding of male sexuality suggests that partner hotness was not actually the limiting factor. Ugly/ugly couples were and are definitely willing to pop out as many kids as they can afford.

Ah, but medieval Europe was monogamous, and even if bastards clearly existed they probably had a much lower survival rate than legitimate children, and lower odds of reproducing even if they survived. The medieval European social structure tended to result in more eligible women than men in most social classes for long stretches at a time.

Bastards? No, I’m saying ugly couples are willing to have plenty of kids in wedlock. A guy whose farm feeds 10 is liable to end up with 10 kids whether he pairs off with the prettiest girl in the village or an absolute goblin.

Also I guess I doubt the bastard survivability claim.

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