Such wholesome ideals are probably rather widespread in the less
sophisticated part of the population. In other strata, social and
financial criteria of selection hold much importance. As a family
ascends in economic position, its standards of sexual selection are
likely to change. And in large sections of the population, there is a
fluctuation in the standards from generation to generation. There is
reason to suspect that the standards of sexual selection among educated
young women in the United States to-day are higher than they were a
quarter of a century, or even a decade, ago. They are demanding a higher
degree of physical fitness and morality in their suitors. Men, in turn,
are beginning to demand that the girls they marry shall be fitted for
the duties of home-maker, wife and mother,--qualifications which were
essential in the colonial period but little insisted on in the immediate
past.
(b) It is evident, then, that the standards of sexual selection do
change; there is therefore reason to suppose that they can change still
further. This is an important point, for it is often alleged as an
objection to eugenics that human affections are capricious and can not
be influenced by rational considerations.
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