Do females choose males? Canadian scientists want to refute Darwin's theory

Canadian researchers from McMaster University in their new work threatened the canonical theory of Darwin - more precisely, on one of its aspects. They are trying to refute the assumption that the males compete with each other for attracting the attention of females, since it is the females who make their choice based on certain criteria.

“Darwin’s theory that the choice remains for females is the main argument for explaining overly developed secondary sexual characteristics in males, such as feathers in the tail of a peacock,” says evolutionary biologist Rama Singh, author of the work. - This argument also allowed to assume that in this way males advertise their gene pool to females - the so-called. "The theory of good genes." And these signs can simply serve as a way to become more visible to the female, or a challenge to other males. "
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Do females, preferring a larger male to a smaller one, are guided by their preferences - or do they make a choice under the influence of threat, coercion, or because the larger male has eliminated competitors?

To demonstrate their point of view, scientists conducted a series of experiments with fruit flies, fruit flies. Starting a female fly with the help of a selected male, the scientists cleaned it and offered the female two other males, larger and smaller (unfortunately, the details of how the scientists determined that the female was aroused were not included in the work). As a result, after statistical processing of the results, it turned out that in this case, the females do not prefer large or small males.

In this paper, the authors note that in nature everything that is considered “male charm” can be associated with threatening behavior or the use of force. The behavior used by the males during the confrontation between themselves is then transferred to the interaction of the males with the females.

Of course, in the case of people, things are not so simple - our behavior is not limited by instincts, they are superimposed on various social norms and psychological additions acquired in childhood.