When Charles Darwin wrote his seminal work, he wrote that natural selection was the driving force behind evolution but many people do not know that he wrote about sexual selection.

Sexual selection is a "special case" of natural selection. Sexual selection acts on an organism's ability to obtain (often by any means necessary!) or successfully copulate with a mate.

Selection makes many organisms go to extreme lengths for sex: peacocks maintain elaborate tails, elephant seals fight over territories, fruit flies perform dances, and some species deliver persuasive gifts. After all, what female Mormon cricket could resist the gift of a juicy sperm-packet? Going to even more extreme lengths, the male redback spider literally flings itself into the jaws of death in order to mate successfully.

Sexual selection is often powerful enough to produce features that are harmful to the individual's survival. For example, extravagant and colorful tail feathers or fins are likely to attract predators as well as interested members of the opposite sex.

In each case it is the male who risks everything, including his life to attract a mate.

Human males are expected to work harder than women to attract a partner - expensive cars, expensive gifts, expensive restaurants are all displays meant to demonstrate to the female that the man is ready to literally waste money on her.

In evolutionary biology there is a concept known as the 'handicap principle'. This is seen in male members of many species, from insects, to birds, mammals and hominids. The male sacrifices some of his chances of survival for the chance of attracting a female.

Next time you're trying to impress a woman, think about this.