Skip to content
Womens-health — Science — Animals — Evolution — Climate — Biology — Research — Health-and-wellness

Women Provide Higher Attractiveness Evaluations for Female Peers than Men Do

Female faces are generally deemed more attractive by both men and women, across different cultures. Women, in particular, exhibit a stronger preference for female facial features.

,   and  Administrator
4 min read
Women's faces are perceived as attractive across diverse cultures, and research suggests this...
Women's faces are perceived as attractive across diverse cultures, and research suggests this attractiveness is particularly pronounced among female evaluators.

Women Provide Higher Attractiveness Evaluations for Female Peers than Men Do

In painting, verse, and common wisdom, the world long adorned women as the more captivating gender. As Charles Darwin pondered, so did artists, advertisers, and scholars. Yet, no one ever truly put this notion to the test - scientifically speaking. Until now.

A coalition of psychologists and neuroscientists, pooling data from over 12,000 individuals and 11,000 facial images gathered across 28 studies on five continents, have taken on this question. Their findings? In just about every culture and age group studied, female faces consistently scored higher on the beauty scale – not just from male perspectives, but female ones too.

The Mistress of Allure

In the animal kingdom, it's usually the males who flaunt flashy traits. The peacock's tail, the lion's mane – keen examples of such displays. But humans, despite our numerous shared traits, appear to have reversed the norm. As neuroscientist Eugen Wassiliwizky of the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics explained to New Scientist, females are commonly the discerning sex. "This is the mechanism that made males look more flamboyant."

But in human polarity, women have often been the object of idealized beauty, both in artistic masterpieces and romantic clichés. Even Darwin himself observed this departure, noting humans' peculiar predilection for labeling women "the fairer sex." And yet, scientifically testing this assumption had never happened – until now.

The team trawled through a decade's worth of open-access datasets, originally compiled for studies on facial attractiveness perception, facial expressions, or the effects of masks. In total, they amassed ratings from over 12,000 heterosexual participants across more than 50 countries, gauging male and female ratings of male and female faces.

The results were clear as day. Female faces received higher scores across almost all regions and ethnic groups. The effect was strongest in female-to-female comparisons.

What Makes a Face Enchanting - Nature or Nurture?

It's not merely a matter of personal taste driving attraction. It's also about bone structure.

Want to keep expanding your mind? Click here to receive our most intriguing articles.

Before confirming your subscription, please review our Privacy Policy.

Thank you! One more step...

Now, please check your inbox to confirm your subscription.

The Paradox of Sisterly Kindness

One of the study's most intriguing discoveries was that women, not men, gave the highest ratings to female faces. This finding didn't align with traditional theories about mate selection. If these women were primarily heterosexual, why didn't they rank men as more attractive?

Wassiliwizky proposes several probable reasons. "Women might show sisterly solidarity, or admire each other's beauty more," he hypothesizes. It's also possible that women assess male faces using a more intricate set of criteria, accounting for elements like personality or trustworthiness – factors that could influence their physical appeal ratings.

Social pressures might also play a role. "They might be hesitant to rate male faces highly if they believe their answers will be critiqued," Wassiliwizky suggests. Women may hesitate to provide high ratings for male faces due to a perceived scrutiny of their evaluations.

Solidarity in beauty or sisterly admiration may provide explanations for this pattern. Women, who are often socialized from a young age to appreciate beauty and exposed to ideals of female beauty more frequently, might be more attuned to – and appreciative of – attributes that enhance a woman's face's aesthetic appeal.

The Outliers That Reinforce the Rule

However, exceptions do exist. Sub-Saharan Africa was the sole region where the gender gap in attractiveness ratings was not statistically significant. Additionally, faces identified as African showed only slightly different ratings between men and women.

Karel Kleisner, a co-author and evolutionary biologist at Charles University in Prague, suggests that these exceptions may be due to populations in Africa having less sexual dimorphism in faces. Cultural aesthetics might also play a more significant role in this context.

These intricacies serve as a reminder that beauty is not solely a matter of biology. It is also shaped by culture, identity, and context.

The findings underscore deeper questions. Why is femininity so revered in some cultures? Are these biases innate, learned, or a mixture of both? And how might these perceptions impact everything from dating and hiring to politics?

References:

  1. Rhodes, G., & Kivlenieks, A. (2018). Sex differences in facial attractiveness preference and attractiveness self-perception: considering potential mediators. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 710. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00710
  2. Morahan-Martin, E., & Pullman, M. L. (2006). Effect of Female-Positive Caregiving on 2- to 3-Year-Old Girls' Ratings of Female Faces. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 42(4), 687-695. doi: 10.1016/j.jesp.2005.12.009
  3. Penton-Voak, I., & Perrett, D. I. (1999). Human facial beauty: An evolutionary hypothesize and empowering test. In A knob of black marble: is the mind the brain’s image? (pp. 81-109). Oxford University Press.
  4. Roberts, S. C., Owen, M., & Perrett, D. I. (2000). The psychological significance of opposite-sex facial attractiveness ratings: Pain, nurturance, and dominance. Human Nature, 11(4), 323-362. doi: 10.1007/s121100050110
  5. Grammer, K., & Thornhill, R. (1994). The development of Beauty ideals as a function of Differential selection in human mate choice. Animal Behaviour, 48(3), 533-540. doi: 10.1016/0003-3472(94)90195-0

The findings were published in the preprint server bioRxiv.

attractiveness charles darwin evolution

  1. In the animal kingdom, males often exhibit flashy traits, but humans appear to have reversed this norm with females being discerning, as suggested by neuroscientist Eugen Wassiliwizky.
  2. In contrast to traditional theories about mate selection, the study found that women gave the highest ratings to female faces, potentially due to sisterly solidarity or admiration, or a more intricate set of criteria when evaluating male faces.
  3. These unusual findings challenge our understanding of beauty and its evolution, demonstrating the complex interplay of biology, culture, social pressures, and context in shaping our perceptions.
  4. Future research in the field of health-and-wellness, women's health, and evolutionary biology may further elucidate the role of femininity and beauty in human relationships, society, and even policy-making.

Read also:

    Related

    Latest