The culture of 1884

Study of Buttocks (c. 1884) by Félix Vallotton

Portrait of Madame X (1884) by John Singer Sargent

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions is an 1884 novella by Edwin Abbott Abbott

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (1884-1886) – Georges Seurat

Les champignons considérés (1884) – Lucien-Marie Gautier

Any computer-dating questionnaire will try to match intellectual like with like

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“Physically, men and women are generally attracted to each other because of their differences. Ask any group of men from any culture to assess the attractiveness of a female, and they will tend to opt for the figure which curves where they are flat, is soft where they are strong and — though this may be a matter for aesthetic as much as scientific debate — swells where they are narrow. The same, in reverse, is true of women, who will tend to express a preference for men with broad shoulders tapering to narrow hips. … Yet in every other respect, we expect the sexes to be attracted to each other because of their similarities. Any computer-dating questionnaire will try to match intellectual like with like. –Brain Sex