The sight of the peacock's tail makes me sick: the early arguments on sexual selection.

Abstract in brief

• The text explains Darwin's theory of sexual selection, which was proposed to account for differences between males and females within the same species, such as the extravagant tail of the peacock versus the plain appearance of the peahen.
• The theory faced resistance and misunderstanding within the scientific community, partly because classical Darwinian views overlooked social competition as a key factor in evolution and because previous ideas emphasizing species preservation complicated its acceptance.
• Additionally, Darwin's explanations about human sex differences were seen as insufficient, especially amid 19th-century debates on human racial differences, which made the theory more controversial and harder to understand.]