The word ‘evolutionarily’ seems to be doing no work here. Either women tend to be more drawn to high-status than youth and virility, or they don’t. Trying to say what a woman does “because of evolution” seems pointless. There are genetic traits and there are social traits, but there aren’t “evolutionary” traits, unless you somehow believe that evolution is affecting something other than the genetic traits the woman has.
Further, considering issues such as epigenetic gene modulation and expression, not to mention neurological concerns that while the result of genetics don’t provide a clear map from “mate selection” to “DNA,” it is entirely possible that any genetic preferences among women are naturally set to vary depending on the circumstances of their environment. In fact, this seems like a highly probable thesis for human beings in general, given the complexity of brains and the long development term for “attraction” in the human life cycle in men and women.
The word ‘evolutionarily’ seems to be doing no work here. Either women tend to be more drawn to high-status than youth and virility, or they don’t. Trying to say what a woman does “because of evolution” seems pointless. There are genetic traits and there are social traits, but there aren’t “evolutionary” traits, unless you somehow believe that evolution is affecting something other than the genetic traits the woman has.
Further, considering issues such as epigenetic gene modulation and expression, not to mention neurological concerns that while the result of genetics don’t provide a clear map from “mate selection” to “DNA,” it is entirely possible that any genetic preferences among women are naturally set to vary depending on the circumstances of their environment. In fact, this seems like a highly probable thesis for human beings in general, given the complexity of brains and the long development term for “attraction” in the human life cycle in men and women.