# What actually makes a man's face handsome, or a woman's face pretty **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 10, 2018, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actually-makes-a-mans-face-handsome-or-a-womans-face-pretty/815835 "2018-06-10T18:51:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2018, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actually-makes-a-mans-face-handsome-or-a-womans-face-pretty/815835/21 "2018-06-13T07:00:41Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I agree. Facial attractiveness is a proxy for health, wealth and status. In east Asian nations women wear [face masks](http://talk.onevietnam.org/wp-content/uploads/assets/qingdao-china-sun-protection-mask-facekini-2-537x402.jpeg) that prevent tanning when they go outside because pale skin is attractive. Pale skin is attractive because poor farmers spend all day outdoors while wealthier people stay indoors all day. In the west it is the opposite, being too pale is a sign of having ‘no life’ and spending all day indoors on the computer while a tan is a sign you are going out and doing activities. > > But there is also gender, faces are a proxy for gender. Masculine faces are more attractive on men and feminine faces are more attractive on women. I heard somewhere that it was the same in the west, parasols for example, until tennis, originally an upperclass sport, came along. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actually-makes-a-mans-face-handsome-or-a-womans-face-pretty/815835/23 "2018-11-16T10:00:17Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Obviously, in men, emphasis of sexual secondary characteristics - strong jaw, etc. and \*\* lack of obesity\*\* would indicate healthy hormone balance. Bolding mine. The effect of obesity on attractivity doesn’t seem hardwired but rather cultural. See for instance the obese men in some pacific island or the fattened women in East Africa. Both are pretty much morbidly obese, and this is culturally considered attractive. And when you go below the seriously obese level, there’s quite a lot of variation in what in considered attractive depending on place and time. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actually-makes-a-mans-face-handsome-or-a-womans-face-pretty/815835/24 "2018-11-16T10:39:09Z")
> [@ChuckLee](#): > > We find persons with clear skin, healthy teeth, and hair pretty subconsciously because they seem the right partner to have kids with. Be careful with the whole “subconscious” thing. _We_ know why particular behaviours are advantageous, but there is neither the need nor mechanism for such knowledge to imprint itself in organisms’ minds, conscious or otherwise. Organisms that are horny and select mates who look strong and healthy get selected for. They don’t need to know why. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actually-makes-a-mans-face-handsome-or-a-womans-face-pretty/815835/25 "2018-11-16T10:59:10Z")
Apart from looking healthy - i.e. free of spots, straight teeth and so on - a beautiful face is also defined by the way it is balanced. i.e. the ratio of the facial features in their size and in their relationship with each other. There is a golden ratio in human faces but also in photographic composition architecture and design (and more) and I wouldn’t be surprised if that ratio was our innate attraction to facial ratios spilling over into the other things we see (this is just a thought that occurs to me now so I have nothing to back that up) > **[New “Golden” Ratios for Facial Beauty](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2814183/)** > > In four experiments, we tested the existence of an ideal facial feature arrangement that could optimize the attractiveness of any face given its facial features. Participants made paired comparisons of attractiveness between faces with identical... ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actually-makes-a-mans-face-handsome-or-a-womans-face-pretty/815835/26 "2018-11-16T11:18:52Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Bolding mine. > > The effect of obesity on attractivity doesn’t seem hardwired but rather cultural. See for instance the obese men in some pacific island or the fattened women in East Africa. Both are pretty much morbidly obese, and this is culturally considered attractive. And when you go below the seriously obese level, there’s quite a lot of variation in what in considered attractive depending on place and time. I can’t find the link any more, but there used to be a site that showed every Playboy playmate. Interesting seeing how over the years cultural views change on beauty. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actually-makes-a-mans-face-handsome-or-a-womans-face-pretty/815835/27 "2018-11-16T11:24:18Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > However, never underestimate the value of social conditioning; women shave their underarms, legs, and nowadays it seems, elsewhere. However, this is not “natural”. However it _is_ an exaggeration of a natural feminine quality; women tend to have lighter body hair. And exaggerating gender-linked features often makes an individual more attractive in all sorts of animal species, from insects to humans. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actually-makes-a-mans-face-handsome-or-a-womans-face-pretty/815835/28 "2018-11-16T13:41:25Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > However it _is_ an exaggeration of a natural feminine quality; women tend to have lighter body hair. And exaggerating gender-linked features often makes an individual more attractive in all sorts of animal species, from insects to humans. And there is a name for the trait (but I can’t remember it) that women’s looks - both genetically and through cosmetic methods - try to emulate youth to a much greater extent than men; blonde hair, for example, perky upturned noses, thin… all mimic young, because it seems men are instinctively attracted to women who appear to have many child-bearing years left. (There’s a chart that shows, only half in jest, the ideal preferred age of a partner for men and women. For women, it’s a diagonal line indicating a man a year or so older. For men, the same age in teen years and then for older men levels off at 22. 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actually-makes-a-mans-face-handsome-or-a-womans-face-pretty/815835/29 "2018-11-16T14:55:09Z")
Roderick Femm mentioned faces that show intelligence. How does a face indicate intelligence? I can see one equating a cro magnon-looking person with lack of intelligence so is an intelligent face just one that lacks “cave man” features? I’m not sure that I ever looked at someones face and thought, “Now, he/she looks intelligent”. Grooming, glasses, protectors and other memes - maybe. But the face alone? ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actually-makes-a-mans-face-handsome-or-a-womans-face-pretty/815835/30 "2018-11-16T15:18:51Z")
> [@MikeF](#): > > Roderick Femm mentioned faces that show intelligence. How does a face indicate intelligence? I can see one equating a cro magnon-looking person with lack of intelligence so is an intelligent face just one that lacks “cave man” features? I’m not sure that I ever looked at someones face and thought, “Now, he/she looks intelligent”. Grooming, glasses, protectors and other memes - maybe. But the face alone? I’ve always felt it’s not the facial features themselves, but the expressions and actions that make a person look intelligent. Basically seeing how they observe things that are going on around them, what they focus on, how they react, etc. Although… I’ve often been mistaken for dull witted by people who don’t know me. I’m moderately tall, large (both fat and structurally), deep voiced, and have fairly stereotypically masculine features. Apparently that all adds up to people assuming I’m like Lennie from _Of Mice and Men_ before they actually get to know me at all. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actually-makes-a-mans-face-handsome-or-a-womans-face-pretty/815835/31 "2018-11-17T13:54:30Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > In east Asian nations women wear [face masks](http://talk.onevietnam.org/wp-content/uploads/assets/qingdao-china-sun-protection-mask-facekini-2-537x402.jpeg) that prevent tanning when they go outside because pale skin is attractive. Having never seen these, I did a bit of googling and it appears to be limited to one area in China by a limited number of people rather than “women in East Asian Countries.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actually-makes-a-mans-face-handsome-or-a-womans-face-pretty/815835.md?page=1)