Many researchers studying non-human mate choice have observed that exaggerated sex-typical male traits, such as large antlers and peacock's tails, are attractive to females [1].
In many animals, exaggerated sex-typical male traits are preferred by females, and may be a signal of both past and current disease resistance.
In this literature, high masculinity is generally defined as exaggerated sex-typical features (i.e., men with traits at the extreme of the distribution of a sexually dimorphic trait are considered more masculine than men with average trait size).
Such findings have lead to the hypothesis that only immunocompetent males should be able to "afford" high levels of testosterone, and hence that exaggerated sex-typical traits (which are proposed to be mediated by testosterone) should be an honest signal of heritable immunity to local pathogens (see Folstad and Karter 1992; Muehlenbein and Bribiescas 2005), and hence a "good genes" indicator.
In my favourite of his novels, the eponymous Jagua Nana (nicknamed for the English luxury car) is an ageing sex worker whose exaggerated sexuality is of the brassy, chain-smoking, body- baring sort; she helps her ambitious boyfriend get his education in England, she houses a homeless girl at the club, gives away most of the money she finds, makes peace between two feuding families.
The evolution of exaggerated male secondary sex characteristics is frequently attributed to sexual selection either by female choice or combat among males [ 1, 2].
Tom of Finland was a prolific fetish artist, specializing in images of men with exaggerated primary and secondary sex traits, such as extreme muscularity and improbably large penises.
If transcript abundance is viewed as a quantitative trait, it becomes apparent that males demonstrate considerably more exaggerated trait values for sex-biased genes than do females.
In general, surprisingly few studies deal with trait allometry in fishes but see [ 24], although in many fishes the sexes show exaggerated ornaments like elongated, colorful fins, which are assumed to have resulted from sexual selection [ 1].
But some gender specialists insist theories on sex differences are exaggerated and harmful to women.
There is a performative aspect to the way drag artists use dressing up as the opposite sex (often in exaggerated tones), whereas being a ladyboy is a state of being, akin to transgenderism: "We are this way all the time".
