SEX-DIFFERENCES IN THE ANATOMICAL LOCATIONS OF HUMAN-BODY SCARIFICATION AND TATTOOING AS A FUNCTION OF PATHOGEN PREVALENCE

Pathogen prevalence can affect human mate selection because pathogen s everity limits the number of high-quality pathogen-resistant mates. Th is creates a selection pressure to fashion mechanisms to identify and select pathogen-resistant mates. Gangestad and Buss have suggested tha t attractiveness indicates pathogen resistance. Humans in many instanc es enhance their attractiveness by using permanent body markings, such as tattooing and scarification. We hypothesized that as pathogen seve rity increases, so should permanent marking of body areas that are att ended to for evaluating attractiveness and mate quality. Females were predicted to scarify their breasts and stomachs (due to the stomach be ing a component of waist-to-hip ratio), both indicative of youthfulnes s and fertility. Males were predicted to scarify those body parts indi cative of sexual maturity and strength, such as the face, shoulders, a nd arms. Cross-cultural data revealed that pathogen prevalence predict s female stomach scarification independent of polygyny, famine, and so cial class stratification. The relationship between scarification of b ody parts and pathogen prevalence was not evident for males. These fin dings, based upon between-society comparisons, suggest that stomach sc arification could act as a signal of female mate quality in societies that encounter a high prevalence of pathogens. (C) 1997 Elsevier Scien ce Inc.