Faces

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I read some news story a while back that mentioned a chimp can tell a male human from a female human by the face. And I thought, well, I guess people can do that too. (most of the time.) Then I started thinking about it more, and wondered just what is it about a face that lets us do that? And I can't put my finger on it.

Anyone know, or have some ideas on how we can tell guy from gal by looking at the face?

[hyokahey]

Well the obvious is facial hair (though I have seen a few gals with pretty good beards!) Facial hair is still obvious after a shave for most guys. There are also bone size differences between males and females, though I do not rightly know that this extends to skulls.

The major 'tell' is the literally thousands of 'micro expressions' that the human face is capable of. Now, both males and females have the same capabilities, but have clearly different (gender) social upbringing. Most of us are socialized either male of female, and this then effects all of our gestures. All of our micro-expressions are very unconscious and mostly out of our control; so we cannot hide our gender by altering our facial expression. The idea is most evident when you interact with a transgendered person; they often have micro-expressions from both genders.

See?

[Tyger]

Womens' faces tend to have more pronounced cheekbones, more of a delicate quality (for the most part), and also, a man is the one one of the genders to have an Adam's Apple in their neck. Also, men's brows tend to be broader, and their necks thicker.

This isn't always true, but generally speaking, this is what I've noticed.