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Chase-away versus runaway sexual selection, con't. Chase-away sexual selection posits that some male traits that attract females may actually be disadvantageous to the female, for example persuading her to mate with a frequency or at a time that is harmful to her (how?). Females evolve a resistance to the trait, which is then overcome by an exaggerated version of the male trait, which is then nullified by increased female resistance, and so on. How can the interests of males and females be diametrically opposed to each other? Won't the offspring inherit both the trait AND the resistance to the trait, which will cancel each other out? The key lies in the mating system of the species concerned. In species where the females mate with only one male before producing offspring (monandry), male fitness and female fitness are tightly linked. But in species where both males and females mate multiply with different partners (polygamy), the fitnesses of individual males and females are NOT linked, and can evolve in different directions.
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