The Descent of Man

variations should have been transmitted exclusively
to the same sex; consequently that they
should have transmitted beauty in a somewhat
higher degree to their female than to their male
offspring, and thus have become more beautiful,
according to general opinion, than men.
Women, however, certainly transmit most of
their characters, including some beauty, to their
offspring of both sexes; so that the continued
preference by the men of each race for the more
attractive women, according to their standard
of taste, will have tended to modify in the same
manner all the individuals of both sexes belonging
to the race.
With respect to the other form of sexual selection
(which with the lower animals is much the
more common), namely, when the females are
the selectors, and accept only those males
which excite or charm them most, we have reason
to believe that it formerly acted on our progenitors.
Man in all probability owes his beard,