Evolution...?

Why is it that when humans evolved women lost most of their hair while men still have hairy arms,chests and beards.

Does this mean that women evolved further than men?

Evolution...?

This is actually a complicated question.

The first thing you have to understand is that in evolution, often times selection for one feature leads to changes in another that are purely a byproduct. That is... the second trait isn't really favored, but it's linked to another trait that is.

Human females have been shaped by sexual selection (as have human males) for a very long time. One of the things that's affected females is that males tend to prefer "juvenile" traits in mates. You know... big eyes (also why mascara was invented), smooth round features, relative hairlessness, etc.

So what this means is that human males are/were more likely to mate with females that appear relatively juvenile. Well... mating with *actual* juveniles doesn't do any good from an evolutionary perspective. After all... pre-pubertal females can't conceive, and grow out of their pre-pubertal appearances. So males have a tendency to prefer females who reach sexual maturity early only because sexual maturity tends to bring about a cesation of growth. So if growth stops early, then the person tends to look more juvenile, which is to say... maintain many of those juvenile traits, like relative hairlessness.

In the real world, you can see this fairly easily. The more petite females around you *generally* exhibit relatively juvenile features (smooth foreheads, big eyes, round noses, etc.), while the larger women (say %26gt; 5'6") tend to exhibit more noticeable brow ridges (not a smooth forehead), more robust noses, and so on.

The last bit I'd like to mention is that none of this matters today. Sexual selection only really acts when there's a shortage of one or the other gender, and thus mate choice becomes a major factor. In today's population, we have just a few more females than males, so while statistically males have the ability to exert some choice and therefore pressure on females, it's a weak pressure at best.

Anyway, I'm sure you were joking, but no... females aren't "more" evolved than males, just more child-like (Note: I did *not* say child-ISH).

P.S. I modified this from an earlier post of mine on hair.

Evolution...?

Some of my research involves similar phenomena. I don't study it in humans, but I've read much of the literature on the subject. For more... Search: paedomorph, neoteny, heterochrony. Report It

Evolution...?

Yep!

Evolution...?

my guess is that less hair shows more flesh, especially fat, which is, for a woman, a good sign of fertility and ability to produce and feed infants.

Evolution...?

It might have something to do with the hormones lol!

just as well women lost their hair, have you seen a hairy woman? its unsightly!!

Evolution...?

It is related to hormones (take them from a bottle and you can change how you look) and probably selective breeding (men liked women with less hair, women liked men with more...)

Evolution...?

In truth women are just as hairy the difference being mens hair is courser and thicker hence more visible it has nothing to do with the evolutionary scale it has more to do with ethnicity ie. african, european etc...

Evolution...?

Humans evolved with the female raising the children and the males doing the hunting and protecting. That allowed females to be selected more for appearance and other fine qualities. With males, it helped to be the baddest around to maintain the ability to protect. It seems only natural that you would get females looking so good relative to the men who are more like jeeps %26lt;Elaine%26gt; in that they are more functional.

Evolution...?

It certainly means women were here first. The evolutionary choice for two sex's was to improve the specie and produce greater variety. Before this, all animals produced by parthenogenesis.

Some years ago, during a hot dry few million years, many animals went into the sea. Some of them stayed there, and the signs of any lengthy aquatic stay are greater intelligence, huge growth - loss of hair and a covering of fat. It's logical to assume the introduction of males came after the planet cooled, so our mate is a throwback to the original pre-oceanic ape. Not as strong, not as long lived and prone to genetic disorders of that gender, and also the highly specialized disorder of autism. It is not discussed in mixed company, that the main complaints women have about men, are identified as mild autism.