Perception and sexual dimorphism.
https://lihsianghsu.wordpress.com/2010/0...r-matters/
In a study by Richard Russell (2009), the issue is exposed by revealing the effects of contrast of human faces on the perception of gender. Emphasis is put specifically on the perceived facial dimorphism between men and women.
As Figure 1 shows, Russell used digital manipulation method by averaging male and female facial features to create an androgynous face, and then modified it by differentiating the levels of contrast between the picture on the left and the one on the right. Contrast enhancement was put especially on the skin color, the eye contours and the lips. The left image shows a face with lighter skin, darker eye contours and lips, while the right one shows a face with darker skin, lighter eye contours and lips. Even though the face is the same in both pictures, Russell found people tended to see the left one showing a woman, while the right one showing a man. And an androgynous face can be made to appear as female and more attractive by increasing the facial contrast, while to appear male by decreasing the facial contrast.
The phenomenon is, according to Russell, resulting from the exaggeration of sexual dimorphism existing naturally between women and men, with women’s skin being lighter and female faces having greater contrast than men’s, as Russell has shown in this research. Russell explains that there is an underlying biological process in face perception guiding our identification of gender. The sex dimorphism of face contrast is more sharply marked by women’s use of cosmetics to enhance the expected female facial characteristics: applying eye shadow and gloss to draw out the regard and lips, using foundation and powder to smooth out the face and cover uneven skin coloration, etc. Specifically, the use of cosmetics is to “exaggerate a previously unknown sex difference in facial contrast,” as Russell demonstrates.
https://lihsianghsu.wordpress.com/2010/0...r-matters/
In a study by Richard Russell (2009), the issue is exposed by revealing the effects of contrast of human faces on the perception of gender. Emphasis is put specifically on the perceived facial dimorphism between men and women.
As Figure 1 shows, Russell used digital manipulation method by averaging male and female facial features to create an androgynous face, and then modified it by differentiating the levels of contrast between the picture on the left and the one on the right. Contrast enhancement was put especially on the skin color, the eye contours and the lips. The left image shows a face with lighter skin, darker eye contours and lips, while the right one shows a face with darker skin, lighter eye contours and lips. Even though the face is the same in both pictures, Russell found people tended to see the left one showing a woman, while the right one showing a man. And an androgynous face can be made to appear as female and more attractive by increasing the facial contrast, while to appear male by decreasing the facial contrast.
The phenomenon is, according to Russell, resulting from the exaggeration of sexual dimorphism existing naturally between women and men, with women’s skin being lighter and female faces having greater contrast than men’s, as Russell has shown in this research. Russell explains that there is an underlying biological process in face perception guiding our identification of gender. The sex dimorphism of face contrast is more sharply marked by women’s use of cosmetics to enhance the expected female facial characteristics: applying eye shadow and gloss to draw out the regard and lips, using foundation and powder to smooth out the face and cover uneven skin coloration, etc. Specifically, the use of cosmetics is to “exaggerate a previously unknown sex difference in facial contrast,” as Russell demonstrates.
"Leave it to me to find a way to be,
Consider me a satellite forever orbiting,
I knew the rules but the rules did not know me, guaranteed." - Eddie Vedder
Consider me a satellite forever orbiting,
I knew the rules but the rules did not know me, guaranteed." - Eddie Vedder
