Mating Why Sex?
• Cost of males
• Red Queen hypothesis
• Reproductive value
• Waist-hip ratio (WHR)
• Body mass index (BMI)
• Parental investment (PI)
Disadvantages of Sex
• Disrupting adaptive combinations.
• Cost of finding a mate and mating.
• Individual gene’s chances of replication
are halved (cost of males).
Sex Differences in Parental Investment
• Minimum (obligatory) Investment
– Males - sperm
– Females - egg and 9 months gestation
• Typical Investment
– Males - resources, some child care
– Females - lactation, child care, some
resources
• Most genes have a 50% chance of
being replicated in sexually produced
offspring.
• All genes have a 100% chance of
getting into asexually produced
offspring.
• The advantages of sexual reproduction
must outweigh this large and obvious
disadvantage, plus others.
Advantages of Sex
• Genetic diversity of offspring
• Reduce competition between offspring
• Some may be successful if the
environment changes
• Immune system diversity
to keep ahead of
parasites and pathogens
(Red Queen Hypothesis)
What Would We Expect?
• What do men want from women?
– Many partners
– Fertile mates
– Healthy mates
– Parental investment
– Fidelity (paternity certainty)
• What do women want from men?
– Resources
– Parental investment
– Healthy mates
1
 Men Desire More Partners and are
Sex with a Stranger
Less Choosy
I’ve noticed you around and I find you
very attractive…
a) …would you go out with me tonight?
b) …would you come over to my apartment
tonight?
c) …would you go to bed with me tonight?

Question Women Men

a 50% 50%
b 6% 69%
c 0% 75%
(Buss & Schmidt 1993) (Clark & Hatfield 1989)

Female Reproductive Value Female Fertility Declines with Age

Age-specific RV =
S (probability of attaining age) * (age-specific fertility)

3
Reproductive Value

0
10 20 30 40 50
Age in Years

Male Fertility Declines Less Canadian Age-Specific Fertility Rate

250

1961
children per 1000 women

200 1971
1981
1991
150

100

50

0
15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49
age

(Dunson, Colombo & Baird 2002)

2
 Signs of Fertility in the Face Waist-Hip Ratio (WHR) and Fertility
Androgens cause: • Much research has found that a low
(0.7) waist-hip ratio is most attractive.
Wider and longer lower jaw
Wider nose • WHR is influenced by levels of
More pronounced brow ridges androgens.
Thicker eyebrows
• This could signal non-pregnancy and
Estrogens cause: fertility.
Fuller lips • Women with a WHR greater than 0.8
Fat deposits on hips have a more difficult time getting
Fat deposits on breasts
pregnant through IVF.

Cultural Variance in WHR Preference Body Mass Index (BMI) and Fertility
• The Matsigenka • Body mass index = kg/m2
people of Peru • BMI under 19 and over 25 have been
prefer 0.9 WHR shown to reduce fertility.
over 0.7.
• The Hazda of
Tanzania prefer
women with higher
weight and do not
differentiate based
on WHR.

WHR versus BMI Are Face and Body Signals the Same?
In a study where undergraduate men rated pictures of
women’s bodies, both WHR and BMI significantly pedicted
attractiveness ratings. BMI accounted for 73.5% of the
variance while WHR accounted for only 1.8%. Waist-bust
and bust-hip ratios were not correlated with attractiveness.

http://evolution.humb.univie.ac.at/institutes/urbanethology/beautypro.html

(Toveé et al. 1998) (Thornhill & Grammer 1999)

3
 Skin Colour Resources
• Women have lighter skin than do men. • Women rate earning
• People become darker with age, but women’s potential as a more
skin gets lighter at puberty. important factor in a
• Women’s skin is darker during pregnancy and mate than do men.
during infertile phases of the menstrual cycle. • Both women and
• There is a preference for lighter skin colour in men rate earning
47 of the 51 HRAF societies with relevant capacity as more
information. 30 mention this preference only important for long-
for females, while 4 mention it only for males. term than short-term
• Light skin may be a sign of youth and fertility. relationships.

(van den Berghe & Frost 1986)

Facial Dominance Facial Dominance and Rank Attainment

Rated facial dominance of photographs of the
West Point class of 1950 was significantly
correlated with rank attainment.

(Mueller & Mazur 1997)

Parental Investment Male Body Type and Attractiveness

Women rate men with lower waist-chest ratios
and intermediate BMI to be most attractive.

Women find the man interacting

positively with the baby
considerably more attractive.
Comparable photos of women
produced no effect on men’s
judgments of attractiveness BMI Waist-Chest Ratio
(La Cerra 1994)
(Maisey et al. 1999)

4
 Sperm Competition Do Women Double Mate?
Competition between sperm from different
How long do sperm last in the female reproductive tract?
males for fertilization of eggs produced by a
single female.
1) How much opportunity is there for sperm
competition in humans?
2) What evidence is there that sperm
competition affects human sexual response
and behaviour?
3) How might women choose which sperm
fertilize their eggs?

How Long Do Sperm Live? “Double Matings”

100

Vagina - only after 12 hours (too acidic)

80

Cervix - up to 10 days
60
Percentage of females

Fertilization can occur 5 days after copulation. 40

Min days bet. men

20
1

Women must mate with two different men 0

1-50 201-500 1001-3000
5

within about 5 days for sperm competition to 51-200 501-1000 >3000

occur. Lifetime copulations

50% of extra-pair copulations (EPCs) involved

copulation with different partners within five days.

Males Ejaculate More the Less Time a

Behavioural Evidence
Couple Spends Together
The greater the risk of sperm competition,
the more sperm should be inseminated 1000

during copulation
Number of sperm inseminated (millions)

800

35 couples collected semen in condoms as

600
part of an on-going diary study.
They measured the number of sperm
400

Hrs since last ejacn

inseminated (concentration times volume), 200 <24 h

the time between episodes of intercourse, 24-72 h

and also the amount of time partners spent 0

0-20 21-40 41-60 61-80 81-100
> 72 h

together. Proportion of time together

(Baker & Bellis 1989, 1993)

5
 Female Choice Women Bias EPCs in Phase II
Women might have evolved various devices to bias
sperm competition in favour of certain partners,
such as short-term extra-pair males (because they 100 7.5

have different genes than the main partner). 7.0

In a survey study, 2546 females stated when they 90 6.5

last copulated, whether it was with the main partner

Number of copulations/day
Number copulations/day
6.0

or with a lover, and the day of their menstrual cycle 80 5.5

on which it occurred. 5.0

Phase I (days 1-5) 70

I II III
4.5
I II III

PHASE PHASE

Phase II (days 6-14) most likely to conceive

Phase III (days 15-28) Intra-pair copulations Extra-pair copulations
(Baker & Bellis 1990)