For centuries, across various cultures, women have often been referred to as the “fairer sex.” Now, a major new study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B has scientifically confirmed this phenomenon.
According to scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics in Germany, female faces are rated as more attractive than male faces. However, this gap narrows with age and practically disappears around the age of 80.
To investigate the phenomenon, researchers compiled the world’s largest database on the subject, combining 52 studies from 76 countries. The analysis, which is based on more than 1.5 million ratings of 17,000 faces by nearly 30,000 raters, showed that the average female face is considered more attractive than 60% of male faces. As it turns out, when women evaluate the appearance of others, they give the highest scores to other women, while rating male faces most harshly, resulting in lower scores.
This discrepancy is partly explained by structural features of the face. Men tend to have more rectangular face shapes, whereas women have rounder faces, which, as the study demonstrated, is perceived as more attractive by both sexes.
The study revealed another significant pattern: the gap in attractiveness between male and female faces gradually narrows starting from the age of 18. Scientists attribute this to the fact that as people age, structural facial differences between men and women diminish, making them look more similar. Consequently, by the age of 80, the difference completely disappears.
