The Illusion of Sex and Attractiveness Page 1 of 5

Amy Stein | Photography | Blog: The Illusion of Sex and Attractiveness Page 1 of 5

SEARCH BLOG FLAG BLOG Next Blog» Create Blog | Sign In

SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2009 AMY STEIN The Illusion of Sex and Attractiveness z Things of interest a occasional musing a fine art photograp living in New York

Portfolio Site Exhibitions and Ev Contact Amy

TWITTER FEED | FOLLO

z Just finished an int great @the_rumpu when it's live about z Migraine aura as a http://is.gd/LApi abo z RT @acp11 New o © 2009 Richard Russell William Eggleston World, for Free http The winners of the 5th annual Best Visual Illusion of the Year Contest have just been about 3 hours ago z Alright. You win. I'm announced and the results are all together trippy. However, the third place illusion by Richard ago Russell of Harvard really stuck with me. z Pizza Hut should b crimes against hum hours ago In the Illusion of Sex, two faces are perceived as male and female. However, both faces are actually versions of the same androgynous face. One face was INFLUENCES AND INSPIR created by increasing the contrast of the androgynous face, while the other face was created by decreasing the contrast. The face with more contrast is z Steven Ahlgren Doug Aitken perceived as female, while the face with less contrast is perceived as male. Corey Arnold Nathan Baker The Illusion of Sex demonstrates that contrast is an important cue for Roger Ballen perceiving the sex of a face, with greater contrast appearing feminine, and Juliana Beasley Matthew Baum lesser contrast appearing masculine. Michael Bilsboroug Alison Brady Richard's work on the perception of faces and the artificial enhancement of gender using Jeff Brouws Edward Burtynsky contrast is really interesting. His research finds that while contrast is an important cue for how Dylan Chatain Kelli Connell we determine sex, enhancement of that contrast has the opposite effect on the perceived Gregory Crewdson attractiveness of men and women. Lowering the contrast makes men less attractive and Jen Davis Carl de Keyzer raising it makes women more attractive. This bias is exploited—and reinforced—by the Todd Deutsch Doug DuBois cosmetic industry, photo-editors and marketers in the overly-retouched photographs found in Mitch Epstein

http://amysteinphoto.blogspot.com/2009/05/illusion-of-sex.html 6/1/2009 Amy Stein | Photography | Blog: The Illusion of Sex and Attractiveness Page 2 of 5

magazines, newspaper and advertising. William Eggleston Julia Fullerton-Batte Jonathan Gitelson Paul Graham Katy Grannan Andy Guthrie Dan Halm Fred Herzog Todd Hido David Hilliard Pieter Hugo Simen Johan Dina Kantor Lisa Kereszi Jeff Liao Andrew Miksys Julian Montague Bill Owens Rachel Papo Youngna Park Martin Parr Christian Patterson Sophia Peer John Pfahl Matthew Pillsbury Neil Plotkin Nicholas Prior Susana Raab Richard Renaldi Carlos and Jason S Alessandra Sangui Sarah Schorr Paul Shambroom Taryn Simon Alix Smith Alec Soth Greg Stimac Angela Strassheim Bill Sullivan Charles Traub Arthur Tress Brian Ulrich Jeff Wall Shen Wei Jeongmee Yoon

NEWS AND VIEWS

z 2point8 40 Watt 53rd Street Biologic 5b4 Almanac Magazine Amy.Elkins.Photo Aron Gent ArtCal Art Fag City Art Most Fierce ArtInfo Be Still Please Bloggy Blueeyes Magazine Boonville USA Boston Photograph Cigarettes and Puri Conscientious Corey Fishes Covering Photograp Culinography

http://amysteinphoto.blogspot.com/2009/05/illusion-of-sex.html 6/1/2009 Amy Stein | Photography | Blog: The Illusion of Sex and Attractiveness Page 3 of 5

Labels: Beauty, Beyonce, Gender, Illusion, OJ Simpson Darius Himes Blog David Byrne Journa Day + Night POSTED BY AMY STEIN AT 12:02 PM DLK Collection Edward_Winkleman Exposure Compens Exposures: An Ape 8 COMMENTS: Eyeteeth F-Stop Magazine File Magazine Tim said... Flak Photo The Flog Foam Magazine this is so interesting. i think you can also say they are making OJ "blacker" to make him Foley Gallery Blog Foto 8 more evil, and Beyonce "whiter" to make her more beautiful. From This Moment Furthermore Gallery Hopper 6:11 PM Gitelson Blog Ground Glass Heading East Amy Stein said... Heather Morton Art Hiding In Plain Sigh Horses Think Beauty is a social construct and, sadly, examples like these perpetuate and reinforce the Huff.Photo.Blog Humble Arts Found outdated visual mnemonics of race. Journal of a Photog Juliana's Lovely La 7:27 PM I ♥ Photograph Immersion Blog Intersecting Images caleb condit said... Intrepid Art Collecto Jade Doskow Blog Kevin J. Miyazaki B I thought the opposite on the first two faces. The more contrasty seems to have sharper Lens Culture Leslie K. Brown Blo edged features (chiseled) and the softer (aka feminine) features... Liz Kuball Blog Look Underfoot Lux Lotus 2:43 PM Magnum Blog Making Room Mary Virginia Swan Billy Hunt said... Modern Art Notes Modern Art Obsess Monitor Mix Raising the contrast helps with attractiveness for both men and women? Even though it Montague Projects No Caption Needed decreases the masculinity of the men? Interesting. I can't help but think about race when Not If But When #2 thinking about this article and your examples. The tradition of darkening and lightening Nymphoto OC Art Blog people of color, depending on your message. OJ is looking pretty contrasty. PalmAire Pause to Begin Blo Penn Design Forum 10:23 AM Personism Photo Finish Photo Induced Amy Stein said... Photography Grant Polaroid Forever Portland Museum o Billy -- That's not what the research says. Differences in contrast give cues to gender. Purpose From there, increasing contrast for women increases their perceived attractiveness and Resolve Richard Renaldi's P decreasing contrast for men decreases their perceived attractiveness. I don't think it works Road Trip Saatchi Your Galler the other way like you suggest. Seesaw Magazine Shane Lavalette Jo Shelby Lee Adams This definitely makes you think about race. That's why I said, "beauty is a social construct Shen Wei Blog SnapLinks and, sadly, examples like these (OJ and Beyonce) perpetuate and reinforce the outdated The Sonic Blog State Of The Art

http://amysteinphoto.blogspot.com/2009/05/illusion-of-sex.html 6/1/2009 Amy Stein | Photography | Blog: The Illusion of Sex and Attractiveness Page 4 of 5

visual mnemonics of race." Stux Gallery Blog Subjectify Superficial Snapsho 10:34 AM Talking Points Mem That's A Negative The Photo Book Billy Hunt said... The Year in Picture Think Progress Tim Connor I knew I was missing something. Thanks. Todd Deutsch Blog Toxico Cultura Blog VVORK William Greiner Hey, are you speaking at the Festival of the Photograph? What's The Jackan Zoe Strauss 10:51 AM GALLERIES, MUSEUMS, E Walter Dufresne said... z 3rd Ward Blue Sky Gallery This post has been removed by the author. Bonni Benrubi California Museum Center 10:44 AM Center for Creative Center for Photogra Woodstock Walter Dufresne said... Clamp Art Dashwood Books George Eastman H Thanks for linking to this. In all the proffered examples, I'm mostly noticing changes in Fotografie Museum density (opacity/brightness) rather than changes in the closely-related tone reproduction Higher Pictures Hasted | Hunt characteristic called contrast. And in the first example, the stunning optical characteristic is Houston Center for Humble Arts Found -- for me anyway -- the softened pixel edges. Thanks for this fascinating link. International Cente Julie Saul Gallery 11:23 AM Kopeikin Gallery Light Work Minnesota Center f POST A COMMENT Museum of Contem Photography Museum of Photog << Home Nazraeli Press Nevada Museum of Parson the New Sc Philadelphia Museu Photolucida Photographic Reso Photographic Cente Randall Scott Galle Robert Koch Galler Robert Mann Galle Rose Gallery San Francisco Cam School of Visual Ar Scottsdale Museum Silverstein Photogr Steidl The Light Factory The Photographers Twin Palms West Collection Women's Caucus fo Yancey Richardson Yossi Milo Gallery