Evolutionary Perspepectives on Womemen's Romantic Interests

“I should say that the majority of women (happily for them) are not very much troubled with sexual feeling of any kind.” So concluded William Acton, a physician of Victorian England, in Functions and Disorders of the Reproductive Organs in[Page 541]Youth, in Adult Age, and in Advanced Life, which appeared in eight editions in the 19th century. Two years after Acton's first edition was published, in 1859, Charles Darwin's Origin of Species appeared. A dozen years later, in 1871, Darwin authored The Descent of Man. In the latter, Darwin elaborated his theory of evolution driven by female choice, as pushed along by female sexual preferences. Aside from a few notable exceptions, this idea was largely ignored by evolutionary biologists for the century that followed. Robert Trivers's highly influential paper of 1971 revived interest in it. Currently, this concept of “sexual selection” is widely regarded as one of the most important forces giving rise to evolution and, hence, one of the fundamental subjects within evolutionary biology.

More particularly, female “sexual feeling”—patterns of sexual interest, preference, and motivation—is considered central to an understanding of the social nature of a species. Spe cifically with respect to human sexuality, evolu tionary biologists and psychologists have docu mented a variety of patterns of women's sexual interests and preferences. Though much more work is needed, the field now offers an outline of what selective pressures shaped these patterns as well as the impact of these patterns on broader relationship phenomena. Perhaps not surprisingly, the idea that humans have evolved as a pair-bonding species in which males and females cooperatively care for offspring (though not without conflicts between them) has been a central thesis. Views about how a history of pairbonding and care of offspring by two parents (rather than almost exclusively mothers, as is characteristic of most species of mammals) is revealed by patterns of female romantic interests, however, have varied across time. This entry discusses evolutionary perspectives on women's romantic interests, their historical roots, and their current status.