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Faces and fortunes: What makes women attractive depends on how healthy the place they live is
The Economist ^ | May 3rd 2014

Posted on 04/30/2014 11:44:50 AM PDT by Gamecock

THAT health and beauty are linked is not in doubt. But it comes as something of a surprise that who is perceived as beautiful depends not only on the health of the person in question but also on the average level of health in the place where she lives. This, though, is the conclusion of a study just published in Biology Letters by Urszula Marcinkowska of the University of Turku, in Finland, and her colleagues—for Ms Marcinkowska has found that men in healthy countries think women with the most feminine faces are the prettiest whilst those in unhealthy places prefer more masculine-looking ones.

Ms Marcinkowska came to this conclusion by showing nearly 2,000 men from 28 countries various versions of the same female faces, modified to look less or more feminine, and thus reflect the effects of different levels of oestrogen and testosterone. Oestrogen promotes features, such as large eyes and full lips, that are characteristically feminine. Testosterone promotes masculine features, such as wide faces and strong chins.

As the chart shows, the correlation is remarkable—and statistical analysis shows it is unconnected with a country’s wealth or its ratio of men to women and thus the amount of choice available to men. The cause, though, is unclear.

Previous studies have shown that women with feminine features are more fertile. A man’s preference for them is thus likely to enhance his reproductive success. Ms Marcinkowska speculates that testosterone-induced behavioural characteristics like dominance, which might be expected to correlate with masculine-looking faces even in women (they certainly do in men), help in the competition for resources needed to sustain children once they are born. But why that should be particularly important in an unhealthy country is unclear.


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To: Gamecock

Why on earth would anyone want to study this topic?

.


41 posted on 04/30/2014 1:04:05 PM PDT by Mears
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To: Mears

Why on earth would anyone want to study this topic?
********************************************************************

Three words——government research grants.


42 posted on 04/30/2014 1:16:17 PM PDT by House Atreides
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To: BenLurkin

Dude.....!
*****************************************

Not to worry...I’m out of that place and she’s back to being repulsive.


43 posted on 04/30/2014 1:17:26 PM PDT by House Atreides
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To: Straight Vermonter

http://www.johnspeedie.com/healy/lovely.wav


44 posted on 04/30/2014 1:23:30 PM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
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To: Resolute Conservative

They don’t count teeth.


45 posted on 04/30/2014 2:24:33 PM PDT by Pharmboy (Democrats lie because they must.)
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To: Gamecock

I don’t think so.

The Philippines has many lovely ladies, but is full of trash/pollution and mosquito driven disease.


46 posted on 04/30/2014 3:40:21 PM PDT by LadyDoc (liberals only love politically correct poor people)
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To: the OlLine Rebel

It’s just ABBA:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfZdskHLFSE

Something about the hips gently swaying ...


47 posted on 04/30/2014 3:57:40 PM PDT by JohnnyP
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To: Gamecock

Take away the four most outlying points and the slope is small.

Take away two more and it’s “what slope?”


48 posted on 04/30/2014 4:02:04 PM PDT by heartwood
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To: Gamecock

Mormon Cowgirls of Southern Utah


49 posted on 04/30/2014 4:11:09 PM PDT by Utah Binger (Southern Utah where the world comes to see America)
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To: Utah Binger

Wow, dibs on the second one.


50 posted on 04/30/2014 8:30:12 PM PDT by JohnnyP
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