Dave Perrett and colleagues found that women tend to prefer male faces that are less masculine than average, although there is a considerable amount of individual varitation. They manipulated masculinity in faces by changing face proportions in the same way that an average male and average female face differ.
Perrett's method manipulates the difference between the sexes (sexual dimorphism). We also manipulated faces using three new methods (perceived masculinity, puberty, and puberty controlling for age). The more masculine face for each method is shown in the top row below, the more feminine face in the bottom row.
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| Sexual Dimorphism | Sexual Dimorphism | Perceived Masculinity | Perceived Masculinity | Pubertal Development | Pubertal Development |
In the Masculinity Techniques experiment, we found that people could accurately detect the more masculine face for all four methods. We also found that people who preferred men's faces that were masculinised using the established method of sexual dimorphism also preferred men's faces that were masculinised using the other three methods. This tells us that the difference between men's and women's faces is similar to the difference between pre- and post-adoloscent boys.
- (1998). Effects of sexual dimorphism on facial attractiveness. Nature, 394: 884-887.
- (2006). Correlated preferences for facial masculinity and ideal or actual partner's masculinity. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B, 273: 1355-1360.