Intelligent design: Naked women

New book:

In ''The Naked Woman: A Study of the Female Body,'' the zoologist Desmond Morris gives us a guided tour of female body parts, often with Darwin's principle of sexual selection in mind. Many of these feminine trimmings, he reports, evolved at least in part to attract a mate. Morris starts with scalp hair, which grows much longer than that of all other primates. These tresses can signal health, age, status or affiliation in both sexes, but women more regularly use their locks for sex appeal. Moving downward to ears, eyes, mouth, neck, hands, breasts, belly and so on to feet, Morris explores the biology, evolution and functions of each feminine feature, illustrating his arguments with the customs of the ancient Egyptians, classical Greeks, modern Americans and many other peoples around the world.

Take a woman's lips. These puffy, everted organs are unique among primates, Morris tells us. But while men's lips become thinner in adulthood, more like those of monkeys and apes, women's remain pillowy and everted throughout the childbearing years, when they serve as sexual signals. During sexual arousal they become redder, engorged and sensitive, mimicking the genital labia.