This research essay will be considering whether the socially determined “attractive” phenotype of a generation affects the genotype of the offspring due to more females looking for this phenotype.
To see if the socially determined “attractive” traits of an era affects the following generations genotype, an example must be considered. To come to a conclusion this response will look at the “attractive” male traits of the late twentieth century and the commonness of that genotype in the offspring, being the humans born in the early twenty first century.
What is stereotypically considered “attractive” in an era is determined by society. General society of this time is expressed through the media, and therefore those who are public figures present in the media set the phenotype for “attractiveness” to be sort after, and aspired towards, by the general public.
Although this appears harmless, these “attractive” public figures are used to promote commercial products such as jewellery or perfume, using the publics association of ideas to create popularity of products for commercial gain.
This image represents the typically “attractive” male body in the 1990’s seen in public figures such as Johnny Depp, Richard Gere and Marti Pellow. This phenotype is masculine but slim, with the abdomen forming a V-shape as it leads into broad shoulders. Abdominal muscles are visible and leg and arm muscles are defined. This “attractive” look also contains dark hair as well as dark eyes.
Females in all species do, however, instinctually mate with males who consciously or subconsciously – in the case of humans – appear more likely to produce the strongest offspring in order to ensure survival, and allow the continuation of their blood-line and evolution of the species. Due to this, the 1870’s “attractive” male is overweight. This was the desired trait in that era for food was scarce and obesity was a sign of a comfortable lifestyle for there was an ability to attain food representing the higher class of society.
It can be assumed that this 1990’s attractive phenotype also represents the best possible mate for females of the time because attractive people are more likely to be hired, implying financial stability, and appear more trustworthy as well as being assumed to be socially competent; all the traits to ensure survival of, and the strongest possible, offspring for the male will be able to provide for the next generation and pass on emotional knowledge so the offspring can thrive socially and therefore be found more attractive by peer females and again continue the blood-line and ensure survival.
Although this was the general “attractive” phenotype, humans are emotive and unpredictable and therefore many females would have found a slightly different phenotype attractive. However, society has a great affect on it’s members thought processes and therefore majority females would be subliminally messaged by the media into finding this stereotype “attractive” and consequently looking for males to breed with who fit this phenotype.
Majority of the popular American figures in the 1990’s had the dark eyes phenotype and therefore if the socially “attractive” trends of a generation affect the genotype of the offspring there would be a decrease in the light eyes phenotype present in the current generation; and this is the case. Leading into the late 1990’s a third of the American population had blue eyes, where today only one in every six Americans has blue eyes, proving the dark eyes genotype is more present due to the socially determined “attractiveness” of this phenotype in the previous generation.
This is, however, not the only factor affecting the popularity of the genotype in the offspring. If America specifically is considered, there has been an influx of foreigners over the last century coming from ancestral backgrounds where darker skin, eyes and hair were advantageous due to environmental factors. There has also been more interbreeding between cultures and races causing the downfall of the stereotypical blonde haired and blue eyed American due to the changing of social norms and cultural acceptance.
When considering the decrease of the blue eyed citizens in America it must also be taken into consideration how the blue eyed phenotype is recessive. If the Punnet Square on the right is observed it is visible that when a homozygously dominant brown eyed person (BB) produces offspring with a homozygously recessive blue eyed person (bb) there is a 0% chance of the offspring having blue eyes.
The fact that the blue eyes phenotype is recessive and that foreigners with a genome containing majority dark eyes are breeding with the blue eyed Americans can possibly be a major contributor to the drop in the light eyed phenotype.
Socially determined “attractive” phenotypes do affect the genotype of the next generation but are not the only affecting factors. The social and environmental conditions as well as the dominance or recessivity of a gene contribute greatly to the genome of the next generation, as well as all the generations to come