What explains why the females like what they like? Perhaps I'm just lost, but could it be that natural selection explains sexual preferences, which has a subsequent impact on evolution?

> this “aesthetic” courtship, says Prum, creates an environment, temperaments and rituals — a sort of culture — that give the female sexual choice, autonomy and safety

Maybe natural selection at a species level (notice the word 'safety') selects for individual-level sexual preferences? If that is true, the theories aren't substitutes, but complements.

Again, maybe I'm just lost.