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Update: Beauty vs. Brains arms race

Update to Beauty vs. brains arms race:

Brainiacs score with the ouster of the Delta Zeta sorority from DePauw University by next fall for kicking out nearly two dozen chapter members who didn’t meet the apparently required physical specs – slender, attractive, and white. 

MSNBC reports, “School President Robert G. Bottoms said the values of the sorority did not fit with the 2,200-student private college in western Indiana.”

What caught my eye is that the caption to the picture on the MSNBS website states that: “…in an incident that put the spotlight on young people’s obsession with appearance.”

Since when is obsession with appearance a new thing?  What strikes me as unusual in this case is that the school actually sided with the brainiacs.  That is what is new.  And why?  Well, perhaps they thought an institution of higher learning actually should side with brainiacs.  In other words, they are being consistent.  Perhaps they thought their brainiacs would be more reliable alumni donors.  (Especially now!)  Perhaps the administrators are more likely to have brainiac daughters who they would not want treated in this manner.

An argument could be made on behalf of the sorority.  The sorority house was two-thirds empty, and was greatly in need of new members.  Whether the existing members had attempted to increase their numbers or not, they hadn’t done so.  If the house had been filled to capacity, would the national sorority have stepped in?  It’s doubtful.  Hence the rebranding.

And why care about this at all?  Evolutionary psychologists often make the argument that there is an adaptive reason why men prefer the youngest, prettiest women.  Youth is preferred because women take better care of their first child, therefore men should always try for virgins, therefore younger is better.  Beauty is preferred because it is a sign of symmetry, which indicates ‘fitness’.

For some reason, these arguments never mention the intelligence of women as a factor.  Youth and beauty are the most important criteria if women are prevented from accumulating other assets, such as brains, money, and positions of power.  This was the case in most societies until about 50 years ago in western countries, and still is the case in much of the world. 

However, now that brainiacs are getting educated in huge numbers and are accumulating wealth, they are competing against the beauties quite effectively.  

In any case, the ball is now in the hands of the national sorority.  Apparently Delta Zeta’s attorney has requested the name of DePauw’s attorney.

Stay tuned.