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TGGP's avatar

From what I've read, traditionalism is a big predictor of marriage & children. Attractiveness less so. For example, it has been noted that college educated urbanites tend to be relatively attractive, while less educated folks in the provinces are less so, but it is the latter who are having more children. Population geneticists looking at current fertility patterns say that the trend is toward less height and more weight, which is not typically considered an attractive combo. However, my recollection was that statistic applied particularly for women (for whom education has a particularly significant negative correlation).

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Blissex's avatar

The question that comes to me is whether the delay in marriage age, the lower number of marriages and the increase in number of divorces have reduced the access of men to sex. The exchange of providing for sex between men and women is quite old.It could be simply that unmarried men, unless they are very attractive, aren't getting any, and that women no longer need/want to marry unattractive men because they no longer need/want a provider, and thus can simply play the field in order to have sex and sons from the most attractive men only.

If this is the case there will be a big change in a few generations (sexual selection is quite fast): unattractive men will be expunged from the gene pool, and the percentage of very attractive men will increase a lot.

PS The above presupposes that most women are attracted to the same general type of man, and that's most likely the case.

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