Subject: Gene pools and arranged marriages

Date: 05-Apr-94 at 09:59

From: Roger White

Dear Marty,

First a quick question: you should have recieved two packages of negatives by now. Is that so?

Second, a quick tease: I'll be sending you a set of my first "Korean Maidens" series. I got these girls out shooting, but I haven't convinced any others to go out yet. Maybe when the word gets round, I'll get some more takers.

Third: my brain has been churning, and I've come up with a new thesis topic. We've talked a lot about how sexual attractiveness is important to gene survival. A beautiful women gets selected for child bearing over an ugly woman.

But... what about in a society with arranged marriages?

In most animal societies, and in modern Western society, the male must be attractive to the female he will mate with, and vice versa. In an arranged marriage society the male must be attractive to the females' *parents*, and vice versa.

How does this change the criterion for attractiveness, and how are those changes reflected in the gene pool? Is there an animal equivalent for this "parental gatekeeper" function?

Hmm.... Any thoughts?

Roger