To summarize, much of the reasoning given for why colored eyes are selected for in men is because lighter irises (pupil definition) are more common in males and hence a sexually dimorphic feature. There are effectively no actual significant survival advantages to having a lighter iris that justifies there being over a billion people alive with the mutation from one ancestor a few thousand years ago, in fact an argument could even be made that it’s disadvantageous. Fair enough, but the problem here is that if this was the only reasoning behind why colored eyes are selected for, it would necessarily follow that the darkest color (dark brown) would also be the most feminine and ideal for women.
So there’s really two alternatives here, that the darkest brown eyes are actually the most attractive color on women or that there’s another reason why we select for colored eyes.
I feel like the issue with the former being true is that I imagine we’d have simply undeniable evidence of this by now, even just through a common consensus in our culture. There’s essentially no demand for dark brown colored contacts, people will fly across the world to get illegal and dangerous surgeries to always lighten their eye color (it’s telling there’s no procedures to add melanin to the iris outside of perhaps a health sense in the case of albinos, especially when women would be by far the largest consumers in the cosmetic industry), and as mentioned one person with the genetic mutation for blue eyes and their lineage a few thousand years ago reproduced to the extent of having over a billion ancestors today.
People will often bring up “contrast”, which makes sense but if true it could mean that the darkest skin and lightest eyes possible would be considered the most attractive to both genders, which it clearly isn’t. Perhaps not though? Would the health/class indicators of having too dark of skin outweigh the increase in contrast you’d get? It’s also very possible that we’ve just evolved to be gravitated towards vibrant colors because of its correlation with ripeness and fertility, so our preference for colored eyes could be at least partially a byproduct of this.
So there’s really two alternatives here, that the darkest brown eyes are actually the most attractive color on women or that there’s another reason why we select for colored eyes.
I feel like the issue with the former being true is that I imagine we’d have simply undeniable evidence of this by now, even just through a common consensus in our culture. There’s essentially no demand for dark brown colored contacts, people will fly across the world to get illegal and dangerous surgeries to always lighten their eye color (it’s telling there’s no procedures to add melanin to the iris outside of perhaps a health sense in the case of albinos, especially when women would be by far the largest consumers in the cosmetic industry), and as mentioned one person with the genetic mutation for blue eyes and their lineage a few thousand years ago reproduced to the extent of having over a billion ancestors today.
People will often bring up “contrast”, which makes sense but if true it could mean that the darkest skin and lightest eyes possible would be considered the most attractive to both genders, which it clearly isn’t. Perhaps not though? Would the health/class indicators of having too dark of skin outweigh the increase in contrast you’d get? It’s also very possible that we’ve just evolved to be gravitated towards vibrant colors because of its correlation with ripeness and fertility, so our preference for colored eyes could be at least partially a byproduct of this.
