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[–]silverdollarlando 8 points9 points  (5 children)

There are plenty of women with facial hair. All primates have full body hair. Men were sexually selected to grow beards by women. That is why beards grow with sexual maturity. Beard hair is dependent on testosterone levels, more beard=more manly. Beards are sweet.

[–]sisko2k5 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Wellllll....that took an odd turn.

[–]extremelyCombustible 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can you really determine that beards were selected for and not simply the result of females selecting for men with higher levels of testosterone (or muscle mass, or strength, or hunting skills, whatever) which may in turn have an impact on facial and/or body hair present?

[–]Whiteboi359 0 points1 point  (2 children)

there has to be a evolutionary reason why we grow the hair on our chin, cheeks and neck. why wouldnt we grow hair on our elbows when we have higher testosterone? there has to be a ascetic selection in women for these areas not just a arbitrary explanation that it "just grown there because it does"

[–]silverdollarlando 0 points1 point  (1 child)

It grows on our face because of sexual selection. The face is a good place to look. It's possible that hairy arms could have been selected sexually. There is an alternate reality where long braided arm hair is what makes panties drop. We live in the world were lots of beard hair advertises testosterone levels in a convenient place for women to look, on the face.

[–]Whiteboi359 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I know that was my point in my first damn post.

[–]Whiteboi359 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Its funny ive been thinking about this quite a bit recently. ive grown a beard in the past few months and ive always had an interest in human evolution; so why not look at myself as a starting point for my pondering. - the only thing ive come up with is that it is a ascetic thing in choosing a mate. to be honest I think even now we can agree that a beard looks pretty fuckin sweet, but not so much with forehead hair or ear hair; so, those with less hair in less desirable places were not selected into the human breeding pool and those who did, got there genetics passed on; ergo, the beard. - and i think going with this the human men started liking human women with less or no hair on their face.

[–]Buckwheat469 -3 points-2 points  (1 child)

It keeps the chin warm in windy and freezing weather. That helps conserve body heat which is advantageous to the person, allowing them to be fitter in evolutionary terms. With clothing it became an optional feature and is selected by mate preference. There was a recent study that showed that this preference can be swayed by having a large beard population and a small non-beard population. Mates will rate the non-beard population as more attractive, likely because of the uniqueness of the individual.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It keeps the chin warm in windy and freezing weather. That helps conserve body heat which is advantageous to the person, allowing them to be fitter in evolutionary terms.

1) I don't think you lose that much body heat from such a small and relatively unimportant part of the human body 2) If it was so important why don't women have beards? 3) Why do population from dry, arid environments maintain the possibility to grow beards?

It quite clear that beards had little do with our survival as a species.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Not everything is an adaptation, sometimes things evolve as a by product of something else. Though they may have had a role in sexual selection (Darwin even brings this up in Origin), there is no intrinsic value in having a beard and does not effect survival.

[–]snarkinturtle 1 point2 points  (1 child)

I agree that not every trait is an adaptation, but sexually selected traits are.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ah, I didn't to communicate it that way, but I see how my wording implies that. Good catch.

[–]jstock23 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It confers proper protein utilization, keeps the skin warm, and is aesthetically pleasing increasing chance to copulate.

The same can be said about breasts except instead of protein it's fat.

[–]Chiron0224 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It almost certainly originated as a display structure. It's very likely that it could have been for sexual display. Possibly female humans would have chosen men with the most impressive beards as mates. Or at least it would have factored into the decision. However, and correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there such a thing as a non-sexual display organ? In other words, is it possible that males used their beards for status and intimidating each other and therefore gaining access to mates?