• exasperation@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    11 days ago

    Well, not-so-prime breeding age is still has reproduction potential greater than zero. And the social effects still matter, with the interplay between sexual attraction/ desirability and all the other social factors. So extended sexual attractiveness might be a side effect of something else that is evolutionarily advantageous (including correlation with prime age sexual attractiveness): being athletic and smart and funny and charismatic are all attractive traits that have functionality outside of just reproducing.