So far as stature is concerned, there appears to be very little reason to suppose that this "charm of disparity" plays any notable part in constituting the sexual ideals of either men or women. Indeed, it may probably be affirmed that both men and women seek tallness in the person to whom they are sexually attracted. Darwin quotes the opinion of Mayhew that among dogs the females are strongly attracted to males of large size.[[173]] I believe this is true, and it is probably merely a particular instance of a general psychological tendency.

It is noteworthy as an indication of the direction of the sexual ideal in this matter that the heroines of male novelists are rarely short and the heroes of female novelists almost invariably tall. A reviewer of novels addressing to lady novelists in the Speaker (July 26, 1890) "A Plea for Shorter Heroes," publishes statistics on this point. "Heroes," he states, "are longer this year than ever. Of the 192 of whom I have had my word to say since October of last year, 27 were merely tall, and 11 were only slightly above the middle height. No less than 85 stood exactly six feet in their stocking soles, and the remainder were considerably over the two yards. I take the average to be six feet three."

As a slight test alike of the supposed "charm of disparity" as well as of the general degree in which tall and short persons are sought as mates by those of the opposite sex I have examined a series of entries in the Round-About, a publication issued by a club, of which the president is Mr. W. T. Stead, having for its object the purpose of promoting correspondence, friendship, and marriage between its members. There are two classes, of entries, one inserted with a view to "intellectual friendship," the other with a view to marriage. I have not thought it necessary to recognize this distinction here; if a man describes his own physical characteristics and those of the lady he would like as a friend, I assume that, from the point of view of the present inquiry, he is much on the same footing as the man who seeks a wife. In the series of entries which I have examined 35 men and women state approximately the height of the man or woman they seek to know; 30 state in addition their own height. The results are expressed in the table on the following page.

Although the cases are few, the results are, in two main respects, sufficiently clear without multiplication of data. In the first place, those who seek parity, whether men or women, are in a majority over those who seek disparity. In the second place, the existence of any disparity at all is due only to the universal desire to find a tall person. Not one man or woman sets down shortness as his or her ideal. The very fact that no man in these initial announcements ventures to set himself down as short (although a considerable proportion describe themselves as tall) indicates a consciousness that shortness is undesirable, as also does the fact that the women very frequently describe themselves as tall.

The same charm of disparity which has been supposed to rule in selective attraction as regards stature has also been assumed as regards pigmentation. The fair, it is said, are attracted to the dark, the dark to the fair. Again, it must be said that this common assumption is not confirmed either by introspection or by any attempt to put the matter on a statistical basis.[[174]]

WOMEN. MEN. TOTALS.
Tall women seek tall men.. 8 Tall men seek tall women.. 6 14
Short women seek short men 0 Short men seek short women 0 0
Medium-sized women seek Medium-sized men seek
medium-sized men ....... 0 medium-sized women .... 3 3
Seek parity........... 8 Seek parity........... 9 17
Tall women seek short men. 0 Tall men seek short women. 0 0
Short women seek tall men. 4 Short men seek tall women. 0 4
Medium-sized woman seeks Medium-sized men seek tall
tall man................ 1 women .................. 8 9
Seek disparity........ 5 Seek disparity........ 8 13
Men of unknown height seek
tall women.............. 5 5

Most people who will carefully introspect their own feelings and ideals in this matter will find that they are not attracted to persons of the opposite sex who are strikingly unlike themselves in pigmentary characters. Even when the abstract ideal of a sexually desirable person is endowed with certain pigmentary characters, such as blue eyes or darkness,—either of which is liable to make a vaguely romantic appeal to the imagination,—it is usually found, on testing the feeling for particular persons, that the variation from the personal type of the subject is usually only agreeable within narrow limits, and that there is a very common tendency for persons of totally opposed pigmentary types, even though they may sometimes be considered to possess a certain æsthetic beauty, to be regarded as sexually unattractive or even repulsive. With this feeling may perhaps be associated the feeling, certainly very widely felt, that one would not like to marry a person of foreign, even though closely allied, race.

From the same number of the Round-About from which I have extracted the data on stature, I have obtained corresponding data on pigmentation, and have embodied them in the following table. They are likewise very scanty, but they probably furnish as good a general indication of the drift of ideals in this matter as we should obtain from more extensive data of the same character.

WOMEN. MEN. TOTALS.
Fair women seek fair men. 2 Fair men seek fair women 2 4
Dark woman seeks dark man 1 Dark men seek dark women 7 8
Seek parity.......... 3 Seek parity......... 9 12
Fair women seek dark men. 4 Fair men seek dark women 3 7
Dark woman seeks fair man 1 Dark men seek fair women 4 5
Medium-colored man seeks
Seek disparity....... 5 dark woman ........... 1 1
Medium-colored man seeks
fair woman ........... 1 1
Seek disparity...... 9 14
Men of unknown color seek
dark women ........... 3 3