Every individual, at
all events in civilization, within certain narrow limits, builds up a
feminine ideal of his own, in part on the basis of his own special
organization and its demands, in part on the actual accidental attractions
he has experienced. It is unnecessary to emphasize the existence of this
factor, which has always to be taken into account in every consideration
of sexual selection in civilized man. But its variations are numerous and
in impassioned lovers it may even lead to the idealization of features
which are in reality the reverse of beautiful. It may be said of many a
man, as d'Annunzio says of the hero of his _Trionfo della Morte_ in
relation to the woman he loved, that "he felt himself bound to her by the
real qualities of her body, and not only by those which were most
beautiful, but specially by _those which were least beautiful_" (the
novelist italicizes these words), so that his attention was fixed upon her
defects, and emphasized them, thus arousing within himself an impetuous
state of desire. Without invoking defects, however, there are endless
personal variations which may all be said to come within the limits of
possible beauty or charm.
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