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 severity limits the number of high-quality pathogen-resistant mates. This creates a selection pressure to fashion mechanisms to identify and select pathogen-resistant mates. Gangestad and Buss have suggested that attractiveness indicates pathogen resistance. Humans in many instances enhance their attractiveness by using permanent body markings, such as tattooing and scarification. We hypothesized that as pathogen severity increases, so should permanent marking of body areas that are attended to for evaluating attractiveness and mate quality. Females were predicted to scarify their breasts and stomachs (due to the stomach being a component of waist-to-hip ratio), both indicative of youthfulness and fertility. Males were predicted to scarify those body parts indicative of sexual maturity and strength, such as the face, shoulders, and arms. Cross-cultural data revealed that pathogen prevalence predicts female stomach scarification independent of polygyny, famine, and social class stratification. The relationship between scarification of body parts and pathogen prevalence was not evident for males. These findings, based upon between-society comparisons, suggest that stomach scarification could act as a signal of female mate quality in societies that encounter a high prevalence of pathogens.