Sexual dimorphism and attractiveness in Asian and White faces

Stephen, I. D., Salter, D. L. H., Tan, K. W., Tan, C. B. Y. and Stevenson, R. J. (2018) Sexual dimorphism and attractiveness in Asian and White faces. Visual Cognition, 26 (6). pp. 442-449. ISSN 1464-0716 doi: 10.1080/13506285.2018.1475437

Abstract/Summary

Marriages between White men and Asian women are over twice as frequent as those between White women and Asian men. Recent research has proposed that this imbalance may be explained by the finding that, on average, White men are perceived as more attractive than Asian men, and Asian women are perceived as more attractive than White women, possibly because Asian faces are perceived as more feminine than White faces. Here, we explore whether Asian faces are perceived as more feminine than White faces. Thirty-five Malaysian Chinese (20 male) and 30 Australian White (12 male) participants manipulated 100 face photographs (50 Asian; 50 White; half male) on a masculinity/femininity axis to optimize attractive appearance. As predicted, White women’s faces were increased more in femininity than Asian women’s faces, and White men’s faces were feminized more than Asian men’s faces to optimize attractiveness. These findings suggest that White faces are perceived as more masculine than Asian faces.