ABSTRACT
The pair of long, highly decorative feathers of the king-of-Saxony bird of paradise are valued as decorations both by bowerbirds and by Papuan people. Intersexual selection consistently promotes the most striking contrasts between the sexes in appearance and behavior. In front of the north entrance of the avenue, Bataille first covers the mat with straw and clear yellow leaves; upon it he will display a collection of objects: blue parrot feathers, blue flowers, blue berries, blue beetles, fragments of blue glass, pieces of blue crockery, and blue buttons. In the southern and central eastern forests of Australia performs the satin bowerbird. Researchers in culture studies seek to account for these varied tastes by investigating non-aesthetic environmental factors: religious ideology, political aspirations and victories; economic demands and goals; and psychological drives, ambitions, and unconscious conflicts. However, like general aesthetics, it is troubled by the suspicion that erotic pleasure does not know what it likes.
