Toward an integrative perspective on sexual selection and men's masculinity

Theory not explicitly discussed by Scott et al. (2012) bolsters their doubt that male faces signal immunocompetence. They propose that male masculinity may simply afford physical robustness. A broader theoretical framework suggests that reality is more complex, with multiple vectors of benefits and costs to males harboring such traits and female choosers likely, and either or contrasts unnecessarily divisive (Kokko et al. 2003). Perhaps one take-home point of Scott et al.'s (2012) contribution is that the study of human sexual selection has been too slow to incorporate recent developments in sexual selection theory. If so, their contribution, placed in a broader theoretical context, marks an occasion for change.