A central theme of David Galef's short story "My Date with the Neaderthal Woman" is the idea that often when a person understands another person, their flaws are cherished rather than amplified to become an inessential issue. In the short story, Robert goes on a date with a woman who is untouched by society and finds great beauty in her. At their lovely dinner date, he notices that she "spreads her arms on the table and [scoops] up" her food, but it doesn't bother him because he realizes that a "woman who enjoys her food is sexy." (Galef 27). On their way home, he notices "gaps in her teeth" while breathing in an "earthy aroma" (28) and finds himself incredibly fond of
