Why do you think sexual dimorphism is decreasing amongst humans?

Question

The difference in the gender's features which attract us to one another...

ex. men are looking more feminized, etc...

Answer 1

It is not. Media hype has placed more exposure on the presence of LGBTs, but they are the same proportion as they were 1000 years ago.

Answer 2

In the womb all babies start as female, then some change to male, therefore its hardly a surprise that we have very similar features. women that look male, males that look female and of course those that aren't sure either way.

Answer 3

Many people look to have taken this to be a "evolutionary" question: I don't know if that was the way you were proposing it but it is not the way I interpreted it. The answer doesn't lie in our genetics but in our society. Our views of beauty change over time, for instance the ancient Greeks believed that small penises were beautiful and large penises were a symptom of abnormality, This has changed and our current view is "bigger is better". Another example: only a couple of centuries ago (or less) larger women were beautiful (largely because a larger woman represented children of families that were financially stable and were able to feed their children). Beauty reflects what we value in society and these values are constantly changing. Currently we see a change from what we once valued to a new set of values and now we are developing a new perception of beauty based on these values.

Answer 4

lmao. The only difference is a "cultural" difference.

    Biologically males are still males and females are still females.

    There where "feminine males" 1,000 years ago and there will be "feminine males" 1,000 years from now.

       There where "masculine females" 1,000 years ago and there will be "masculine females" 1,000 years from now.

      The TV ideal of a "masculine macho guy" never really existed and if it did it was the exception rather than the rule.

Answer 5

Well, b*****s are becoming gradually useless, like eyes on a mole, that's one thing.

Just because sexual dimorphism diminishes doesn't mean humans won't be attracted to each other any more. Just look at some animals who lack it.

Also sexual dimorphism is more related to s*x, than gender.

Answer 6

I think you're right: I think it is.  It's partly about social change.  Women and men don't dress as distinctively as they once did.  And it's partly about nutrition: now that most women (at least in the western world) get plenty to eat, our body shape is changing: we're getting taller and our waist to hip ratio is increasing.  So those physical changes reduce sexual dimorphism.  [It's not so long since women ate less because men did more physical labour and needed a greater proportion of the available food.]

I think there's another significant social aspect to it: the increased social acceptability of homosexual relationships.  It's no longer quite so important for a man to be sure at first glance that he's looking at a woman.  If he sees a nice pair of legs and then realises he's looking at a man, he can shrug it off without being horrified.  

And then there's the change in non-sexual relationships.  It's now possible - easy, even - for men to have close friendships with women.  Just friends, without anyone making the assumption that there must be more going on.  Even 50 years ago that was tricky to achieve.  Meanwhile, men work alongside women and are in church committees alongside women and go to university alongside women (100 years ago that was very rare).  So the necessity of sexual dimorphism in relationships between the sexes has greatly diminished.  Men and women don't need to appear so distinct because they aren't so distinct socially, and also because there are many opportunities to engage with each other.

And yet, I don't see an end to sexual dimorphism any time soon.  Men are still attracted to narrow waists, and women are still attracted to broad shoulders.  (Straight men and women, that is.)  So despite the changes, there are still some features of sexual dimorphism that seem to have a continuing importance.

Answer 7

What a ridiculous notion!

But seriously,  ask me again in a couple of million years: you never know.

Answer 8

nah men are changing but women are still attracted to strong men for the most part.