Apart from the religions and magical properties so widely accorded to the
primary sexual characters, there are other reasons why they should not
often have gained or long retained any great importance as objects of
sexual allurement. They are unnecessary and inconvenient for this purpose.
The erect attitude of man gives them here, indeed, an advantage possessed
by very few animals, among whom it happens with extreme rarity that the
primary sexual characters are rendered attractive to the eye of the
opposite sex, though they often are to the sense of smell. The sexual
regions constitute a peculiarly vulnerable spot, and remain so even in
man, and the need for their protection which thus exists conflicts with
the prominent display required for a sexual allurement. This end is far
more effectively attained, with greater advantage and less disadvantage,
by concentrating the chief ensigns of sexual attractiveness on the upper
and more conspicuous parts of the body. This method is well-nigh universal
among animals as well as in man.
There is another reason why the sexual organs should be discarded as
objects of sexual allurement, a reason which always proves finally
decisive as a people advances in culture.
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