Eugenics and the Classical Ideal of Beauty in Philip K. Dick’s “The Golden Man”

Philip K. Dick’s short story “The Golden Man” (1954) is a compelling portrayal of the threat to the human race posed by a beautiful male mutant. It is also a powerful critique of the classical ideal of male beauty that was integral to the early-to-mid-twentieth-century eugenics movement. Dick wrote “The Golden Man” at a time when eugenics had lost much of its appeal due to its association with the Nazis and their racial projects. Yet the classical ideal of beauty had already become a widely accepted norm due to its incorporation into American manufacturing via the streamlining movement. The mutant in Dick’s story is a competitive threat to humanity and particularly to human males because his beauty and superhuman fitness make him especially attractive as a prospective mate for human women. In fact, his innate inability to form emotional attachments makes him wholly suited to seducing and impregnating women in order to reproduce his kind. It is precisely the deceptive nature of his appearance—beautiful on the outside but efficient to the point of ruthlessness within—that makes the ideal of beauty he represents so dangerous

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