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HumanEthologyBulletin,26(2),2011 25
TargetArticles
HueandLuminosityof
HumanSkin:AVisualCue
forGenderRecognitionand
OtherMentalTasks
By Peter Frost
Anthropology Department, Université Laval,
QuébecCity,Québec,Canada
Abstract
Face recognition takes place within a distinct
heritable module of the brain and includes the
ability to distinguish betweenmaleand female
human faces. To identify gender, this module
targets a number of sexually dimorphic
features,particularlythehueandluminosityof
facial skin. Men look browner and ruddier in
hue
because melanin and blood are more
present in their skin’s outer tissues. Women
have a higher luminous contrast between their
facialskinandtheirlipsandeyes.Hueseemsto
providea“fastchannel”forgenderrecognition.
If the observer is too far away or the lighting
too dim, the
brain switches to the “slow
channel”and targets luminosity. In additionto
assistinggenderrecognition,theskin’shueand
luminositymayalsoaltertheobserver’smental
stateinanumberofareas,rangingfromsexual
attractiontoemotionaldistancing.
Keywords: Face Recognition; Gender
Recognition; Sex Differences; Sex Hormones;
SexualDimorphism;SkinColor
Introduction
AnoldChristianmanuscriptrecountsthestory
ofamanwhowenttoliveinamonasterywith
hisinfantson.Astheboybecameayoungman,
he began to see strange beings in his dreams.
One day, he ventured with his father into the
outside world. On seeing some
women, he
exclaimed: “Father, those are the ones who
would come to see me at night!” (Regnault,
1966,p.73).
We do not learn to recognize the human face.
Nor do we learn to identify whether it is male
or female. This type of image is primarily
recognizedviaan
innatemodulethatfunctions
independentlyofothercognitiveabilities.Ifthis
module ceases to function following brain
damage, the result is a syndrome called
prosopagnosia:thepatientmayseemtobe like
everyoneelsebutwillnotrecognizeanormally
positioned face more easily than any other
object, including an upside
‐down face (Farah,
1996; Little et al., 2005; Pascalis & Kelly, 2008;
Zhu et al., 2009). At the other extreme are
“super‐recognizers” who are as good at face
recognitionasprosopagnosicsare bad(Russell,
Duchaine,&Nakayama,2009).
Thisshouldbenosurprise.Ifanobjectappears
in our
visual field often enough, while being
significantenoughtoourexistence,westandto
gain by recognizing it automatically instead of
having to learn its key features. Thus, natural
selectionwillgraduallyhardwirerecognitionof
familiarobjects,likethehumanface.
This hardwiring can be thought of as a
‘template’ that
responds to a limited set of
visual cues. Although men and women differ
physiologically in many ways, most of these
differences are not readily visible and play no
role in recognition of sexual identity. The face‐
recognition module does not recognize male
andfemalefaces,perse,butrathertwo
variants
of a common mental template. This is sexual
identity as a psychological and almost
caricatured reality and not as a biological one.
Thus, the terms ‘gender recognition’ and
‘genderdiscrimination’are theonesmostoften
usedinthisfieldofresearch.
To recognize an object as a human face,
the
face‐recognitionmoduletargetscertainfeatures
like the eyes and the mouth (Pascalis & Kelly,
26 HumanEthologyBulletin,26(2),2011
2008). Another key feature is skin color,
specifically hue and luminosity, which seem
especially crucial to telling male and female
faces apart. In terms of hue, a male face is
brownerandruddierthanafemaleonebecause
melanin and blood are more present in the
skin’soutertissues(Edwards&
Duntley,1939).
Intermsofluminosity,afemalefacehashigher
contrast between the skin and the lips or eyes
(Dupuis‐Roy et al., 2009; Russell, 2003).Hue
provides a fast visual channel for gender
recognition (Dupuis‐Roy et al., 2009; Nestor &
Tarr, 2008a; Nestor & Tarr, 2008b; Tarr
et al.,
2001;Tarr, Rossion, & Doerschner, 2002).Ifthe
observeristoofarawayorthelightingtoodim,
the brain switches to the slower but more
accurateluminositychannel(Dupuis‐Royetal.,
2009).
Skin color seems more crucial to gender
recognition than other features, including face
shape (Bruce
& Langton, 1994; Hill, Bruce, &
Akamatsu,1995; Russell & Sinha, 2007; Russell
et al., 2006; Tarr et al., 2001; Tarr, Rossion, &
Doerschner, 2002).Whenshown a human face,
subjects can tell its gender even if the image is
blurred and differs only in color (Tarr et al.,
2001).
This gender cue may explain the similar
evolution of female cosmetics in a wide range
of culture areas, i.e., women generally seek to
lighten their facial color and to increase its
contrast with their lip and eye color (Russell,
2003;Russell,2009;Russell,2010).
Figure 1. Averaged female face (left) and
averaged
maleface(right) (White American subjects with no
makeup).
Note. Female faces are lighter‐skinned than
male faces, while showing more contrast
between facial skin and lips/eyes. Upper Left:
Average of 22 female faces; Upper Right:
Average of 22 male faces; Lower Left: White
pixels are where the female average is lighter
than the male average; Lower Right: White
pixels are where the male average is lighter
thanthefemaleaverage(FromRussell,2010).
Figure 2. Averaged female face (left) and averaged
maleface(right)(FrenchCanadiansubjectswithno
makeup).
Note. The key facial regions for gender
recognition,in termsofeither response time or
accuracy, seem to be where facial skin borders
the lips or the eyes (From Dupuis‐Roy et al.,
2009).
HumanEthologyBulletin,26(2),2011 27
Origins of Male and Female Skin
Pigmentation: Interactions between
Age and Sex
LighterSkinasaMarkofInfancy
Humans are born with little skin pigmentation
(Grandeetal.,1994;Kahlon,1976;Walsh,1964).
This pallor is striking in dark‐skinned
populations,whoconsideritamarkofinfancy.
In Kenya, newborn infants are often called
mzungu (‘European’ in Swahili), and a new
mothermayaskherneighborstocomeandsee
her mzungu (Walentowitz, 2008). Among the
Tuareg, children are said to be born “white”
because of the freshness and moisture of the
womb(Walentowitz,2008).AccordingtoZahan
(1974), the cause is often thought to be a
previousspirituallife:
ThereisaratherwidespreadconceptinBlack
Africa, according to which human beings,
before “coming” into this world, dwell in
heaven, where they are white. For, heaven
itself is white and all the beings dwelling
there are also white. Therefore the whiter a
child is at birth, the more splendid
it is. In
other words, at that particular moment in a
person’slife,specialimportanceisattachedto
thewhitenessofhiscolour,whichisendowed
with exceptional qualities. (Zahan, 1974, p.
385)
Another Africanist makes the same point:
“black is thus the color of maturity […] White
ontheotherhandisasignofthebefore‐lifeand
the after‐life: the African newborn is light‐
skinned and the color of mourning is white
kaolin”(Maertens,1978,p.41).
This infant coloration
is phylogenetically old.
Nonhuman primate infants differ from adults
mainly in coat color, but skin color also differs
visibly. This is particularly so with langurs,
baboons, and macaques, their skin being pink
innewbornsandalmostblackinadults.Beiton
skin or fur, natal coloration seems to modify
adult behavior in the direction of more care‐
givingandlessaggression(Alley,1980;Blaffer‐
Hrdy,2000,pp.446‐448;Jay,1962).
LighterSkinasaMarkofWomanhood
Afterbirth,theskindarkensinbothsexesuntil
just before puberty, when girls are slightly
darker than boys. Both sexes then
lighten in
color, but the lightening trend is stronger in
girls. This trend begins to level off in late
adolescence, and the resulting sex difference
persists into adulthood although it may fade
awayafter40yearsofage(Frost,2007;Kahlon,
1976;Kalla,1973;Mazess,1967;Mesa,1983;van
den
Berghe&Frost,1986).
This sex difference varies not only by age but
also by body site, being greater on body sites
where women have thick deposits of
subcutaneousfat(buttocks,breasts,hips).Since
skincolorisusuallymeasuredunderthearmto
minimize tanning, the degree of sexual
dimorphism has
been systematically
underestimated (Frost, 2010, pp. 118‐119). This
sex difference also varies by population, being
greater in populations of medium skin color
and smaller in those with very light or very
darkskin(Frost,2007;Madrigal&Kelly,2007).
Finally, men and women differ not only in
constitutive pigmentation,
i.e., color of
untanned skin, but also in tanning capacity.
This facultative sex difference was
demonstrated by a New Guinea study that
measured unexposed skin color on the upper
inner arm, exposed skin color on the forearm,
andtimespentinthesun.Despiteidenticalsun
exposure, the men were darker
than the
women,andmoresoonexposedskin(Harvey,
1985). The same finding emerged in another
NewGuineastudy,whoseauthorruledoutthe
possibilitythatthewomenwerelessexposedto
the sun: “as in most parts of New Guinea the
adult females are responsible for most of
the
food cultivation and are therefore exposed
almostcontinuouslytosunlight”(Walsh,1964).
Several lines of evidence point to an innate
cause. A Japanese twin study concluded that
genetic factors were largely responsible for
pubertal lightening of female skin (Omoto,
1965).Thiswasalsotheconclusionofayear‐by‐
28 HumanEthologyBulletin,26(2),2011
yearskin‐reflectancestudyofTibetanboysand
girlsatarefugeeboardingschoolwhoworethe
same kind of uniform, had the same activities,
and were examined in December and January,
when tanning is minimal (Kalla & Tiwari,
1970). A ‘digit ratio’ study on English subjects
found that lighter skin
in women correlates
with higher levels of prenatal estrogen
(Manning, Bundred, & Mather, 2004). A skin‐
reflectance study on Black Bahamian subjects
found that lighter skin in women correlates
with thicker subcutaneous fat (Mazess, 1967).
Finally,thesexdifferenceinskincolorispartly
eliminated by castration and ovariectomy, an
indication that the sex hormones contribute to
this dimorphism not only at a prenatal stage
butalsolater inlife(Edwards&Duntley,1949;
Edwardsetal.,1941).
This sexual dimorphism has no true
antecedentsinnonhumanprimates.Butthere is
ananalogousdimorphism.Insevenoftheeight
primatespecies
whereadultmalesandfemales
differ in coat color, the sex difference results
from the female retaining the infantʹs lighter
coloration.Interestingly,fiveoftheseven(63%)
are monogamous, even though monogamy
prevails in only 18% of all primate species
(Blaffer‐Hrdy & Hartung, 1979). This apparent
infantile mimicry
may be a female adaptation
to the social environment of monogamy,
specifically vulnerability to male neglect
(because male provisioning is more necessary)
andmaleaggression(becausecohabitationlasts
longer and is more continuous). To reduce
these risks, the female may mimic key infant
features to inhibit aggressive impulses in her
mate
and to stimulate feelings of care (Blaffer‐
Hrdy, 2000, pp. 444‐451). It is perhaps for
similar reasons that much of mammalian
sexualityseems to come frominfant behaviors,
e.g.,cuddling,murmuring,nipplesucking,and
mouthlicking(Wickler,1973,pp.163‐185).
Function of Women’s Lighter Skin
What use is lighter skin for women? There are
threehypotheses:
Infantilemimicry?Afairercolorisoneofseveral
noticeablefeaturesthatcharacterizethehuman
infant, others being a ‘baby face,’ smooth
hairless skin, and a higher pitch of voice. As
identifiers of a vulnerable life stage, these
features eventually
acquired the property of
making an observer less aggressive and more
willing to provide care. Finally, the adult
female body adopted them to influence male
observers inthe same way (Blaffer‐Hrdy, 2000,
p. 445; Frost, 1988; Guthrie, 1970; van den
Berghe&Frost,1986).
Signal of fecundability? Through a
fortuitous
interaction between pigmentation and the sex
hormones,fairerskinbecameameanstoassess
apotentialpartner’sfecundability.Girlslighten
incolorafterpubertyand,later,womentendto
darken during pregnancy, as well as slightly
during the nonfertile phase of the menstrual
cycle (Symons, 1995; van den Berghe &
Frost,
1986).
Facilitator of vitamin‐D production? Natural
selection lightened women’s skin to increase
vitamin‐D production, thereby ensuring
enough calcium and phosphorus during
pregnancy and breastfeeding (Jablonski &
Chaplin,2000).
These three hypotheses are not necessarily
incompatible. Once men and women had
visiblydifferentiatedinskincolor,forwhatever
reason, this sex difference would have become
a mark of sexual identity. Men would have
tended to choose female mates with an
unambiguously feminine appearance, and
women male mates with an unambiguously
masculineappearance,therebyaccentuatingthe
initial sex difference through sexual selection.
Atthatpoint,skincolorwouldhavebecome
an
index of reproductive health, indicating one’s
respective degree of femininization or
masculinization.
HumanEthologyBulletin,26(2),2011 29
This sex difference in skin color remained
highlyvisibleinthesocialenvironmentaslong
as ethnic differences remained less so. Thus,
wherever the visual arts developed, in regions
asfarapartasEgypt,Japan,andMeso‐America,
artists gave a lighter complexion to female
figures than to male figures (Capart,
1905, pp.
26‐27; Eaverly, 1999; Soustelle, 1970, p. 130;
Wagatsuma,1967).
Today, women’s lighter complexion has
becomemuchlessnoticeableinanincreasingly
multiethnic context. Gendering of skin color
has also blurred since the 1920s, when women
begantoembracethesuntannedlook(Segrave,
2005). When I surveyed university
students in
Quebec City about this sex difference, I found
that only a quarter of them were aware of its
existence(Frost,1987,pp.104‐109).
Earlier Meanings
Yet our ancestors were very much aware.
Before their continent opened up to the world
five centuries ago, Europeans described skin
color with reference to the complexions they
saw among themselves. ‘White,’ ‘brown,’ and
‘black’correspondedto whatwenowcalllight,
tan,anddark.Again contrarytocurrentusage,
these
gradations identified individuals rather
than ethnic groups. A white was a lighter‐
skinned person and a black a darker‐skinned
one.Thiswayofseeingthingspersistsinfamily
names that once referred to skin‐color
gradations within a single population, like
White, Brown, and Black among the English,
Leblanc,
Lebrun,andLenoiramongtheFrench,
or Weiss, Braun, and Schwartz among the
Germans(Frost,1990).
This narrow spectrum was conducive to
gendering of skin color. A woman had to be
fairer than average, i.e., ‘white’ in Europe or
EastAsia,‘golden’inSouth‐EastAsia,and‘red’
in sub‐Saharan
Africa.Despite being
normative for women, a fairer skin did not
monopolize all erotic male desires. In old
European folklore, some desires could target
darker women, i.e., the nut‐brown maid of the
English, the braunes or schwarzbraunes Mädel of
the Germans, the brune of the French, or the
barna
kislány of the Hungarians. This type of
eroticism was ardent, but also stormy and
short‐lived (Carpenter, 1936; Massny, 1937;
Vasvari,1999).
Conversely, a man had to be darker than
average, although attitudes on this point were
somewhatambivalent.Amanwashandsomeif
fair,butvirileandstrongifbrown.
Inmedieval
England, the tenth token of a knight of ‘strong
Corage’ required a ‘broun coloure in al the
body’, a quality that many vaunted by adding
‘thebrown’to theirnames(Curry1916,pp.80‐
95).
This male/female distinction, as well as the
adult/infant distinction, dominated the social
meaning
of skin color in the earliest human
societies, notably hunter‐gatherers and simple
horticulturalists. Lighter skin thus signified
femininity but not higher status among the
hunter‐gatherersoftheNicobarIslands:
Headmen and their families do not differ
from the rest of the community in respect to
colour; their position is due to superior
intelligence and not to the mere accident of
birth […] the lighter coloured skins are,
however,verygenerallypreferred,andIhave
known a woman who was admiringly
described as the “white widow,” whose face
proved nevertheless to be several shades
darker than that of an ordinary Chinaman.
(Man,1889)
This was also the case among horticultural
peoplesliketheIboofNigeria:
From this body of definitely expressed
opinion the equation of paleness of
complexion with beauty emerges quite
clearly.Divergenceneveroccursonthisissue.
In assessing the effect of the European
standard it should be borne in mind that the
Ibo population is almost entirely free from
half‐castes, and thus
there is no gradual
transition between the Negro and European
stocks. There can therefore be no “passing.”
Secondly, paler pigmentation has no class
30 HumanEthologyBulletin,26(2),2011
significance. Wealthy Ibo are of all shades of
complexion.(Ardener,1954)
Withincreasingclassstratificationcamea
growing association between lighter skin
and higher status. Such
“pigmentocracies” arose partly because
the socially dominant were generally
landownerswhoseuntannedskin visibly
setthemapartfromthepeasants,serfs,or
slaves who worked the soil. Another
reason, no less important, was the
tendencyof
higher‐rankingmentomarry
the prettiest and fairest‐skinned women.
Over time, this sexual selection would
lighten the mean skin color of the upper
classes,asinIndia:
Wealthy landowning families often have a
tradition of seeking light‐skinned brides
among poorer members of their subcaste.
It is very common to find a high
concentration of lighter‐skinned people
among established land‐owning families.
(Béteille,1967)
This also seems to have been true in Japan. A
study of unexposed skin showed that upper‐
classJapanesewerelesspigmentedthanlower‐
class Japanese, even when the latter worked
indoorsinfactoriesandnotoutdoorsonfarms.
Thelikeliestexplanation is that the upper‐class
men had a wider
range of prospective brides
and could thus select the fairest ones, forʺskin
color has long been regarded, by the Japanese,
as one of the criteria for evaluating physical
attractiveness, especially in young femalesʺ
(Hulse,1967).
Sexual Attraction and Other Tasks
Gender recognition is not the only mental task
that involves observing a person’s facial skin
andmeasuringitshueandluminosity.Thereis
also sexual attraction, although this task
involves many non‐visual inputs (hormonal
state, personal history, social and physical
context, nature of the sexual relationship, etc.).
Thesexhormones
inparticularseemtoexertan
interacting influence, at least on women. This
wasthefindingofastudywhereyoungwomen
were presented with pairs of facial photos:
three pairs of female faces and three pairs of
malefaces. Eachpairwasidenticalexceptfora
slight difference in
skin luminosity, and the
female participant had to choose the face she
liked the most. The choices, as it turned out,
varied with the phase of the menstrual cycle.
The darker male face was more strongly
preferredby participants inthefirsttwo‐thirds
of the cycle (when estrogen levels are
high in
relationtoprogesteronelevels)thanbythosein
the last third (when estrogen levels are low in
relationtoprogesteronelevels).Menstrualcycle
phase did not affect face preference if the two
faces were female or if the participants were
takingoralcontraceptives(Frost,1994).
A similar cyclical
effect modulates sexual
attraction to other secondary sexual
characteristics, like face shape and body odor.
Although women generally prefer men with a
morefemininefaceshape,i.e.,smallernoseand
less protuberant chin, this preference reverses
duringtheninedaysbeforeovulation(between
days5and14ofa28‐day
cycle)whenestrogen
is at its highest and progesterone at its lowest
(Danel & Pawlowski, 2006; Johnston et al.,
2001).Womenlikewiselosetheirdislikeforthe
smell of androstenone, the main component of
male body odor, between days 6 and 14 of the
menstrualcycle(Grammer,1993).
Skin color
may also influence the way an
observer assesses certain personal qualities.
This phenomenon has particularly interested
researchers in child development, their aim
almost always being to understand how
childrenlearnraceprejudice.Oneexceptionisa
research team led by two American
psychologists,DeborahBestandJohnWilliams,
who argue that
all humans have an early
developing tendency to prefer lighter skin.
They came to this conclusion after studying
young European or Japanese children who
were unfamiliar with darker‐colored ethnic
groups. When shown pictures of people or
HumanEthologyBulletin,26(2),2011 31
animals, the children associated lighter skin
with positive words, i.e., ‘clean’, ‘pretty’, and
‘nice’,anddarkerskinwithnegativewords,i.e.,
‘dirty’, ‘ugly’, and ‘nasty’ (Best, Field, &
Williams, 1976; Best, Naylor, & Williams, 1975;
Iwawaki et al., 1978; Munitz, Priel, & Henik,
1987). These associations were not acquired
progressively with
increasing age, i.e., on a
learning curve (Best, Naylor, & Williams, 1975;
Munitz,Priel, & Henik,1987). Nor did the rate
of acquisition correlate with the child’s IQ, as
would be the case if the associations were
learned (Williams, Boswell, & Best, 1975;
Williams et al., 1975; Williams & Rousseau,
1971).
Butdoeslighterskinnecessarilyevokepositive
qualitiesand darker skin negative qualities?
When a translation error resulted in the
children being given the word ‘robust’, they
associatedthispositivequalitywithdarkerskin
(Best,Naylor,&Williams,1975).Itappearsthat
the researchers had unwittingly chosen words
that evoke
not only positive or negative
qualitiesbutalsofeminineormasculineones.
Conclusion
Thesedifferentstudiespointtotheexistenceof
a mental module that serves not only to
recognizethehumanfacebutalsotoidentifyits
gender by means of sexually dimorphic
features,particularlythehueandluminosityof
facial skin. This module seems to operate
differently in men and women under
the
influence of hormonal inputs, i.e., the body’s
ratio of estrogens to anti‐estrogens (androgens
or progesterone). In addition to assisting
gender recognition, the resulting output may
also alter the observer’s mental state in a
numberofareas,rangingfromsexualattraction
toemotionaldistancing.
Facerecognitionhasrecentlybeen
studiedbya
team of Chinese researchers, who concluded
that it takes place within a distinct heritable
moduleofthebrainandisnotsimplyanaspect
ofgeneralmentalability(Zhuetal.,2009).This
was a major study with many participants but
it proved in several months what had
been
suspected for several decades. The same
approach may show whether this module also
processes visual information on the skin’s hue
andluminosity.
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Peter Frost, Ph.D., graduated from Université
Laval in 1995 with a doctorate in Anthropology.
Since then, Dr. Frost has been working as a
contractor for an indigenous people research
group, previously named the Groupe D'Études
Inuit et Circumpolaires (GÉTIC) and now named
the Centre Interuniversitaire D'Études et de
Recherches Autochtones (CIERA). His work for
them has included translations and revisions of
academic papers, as well as a literature review on
Labrador Inuit genetics. Peter Frost has recently
published Femmes Claires, Hommes Foncés. Les
Racines Oubliées du Colorisme (Presses de
l’Université Laval).
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Commentaryon
Steklis&Steklis(2011):
GraduateInterdisciplinaryProgramsfor
TrainingStudentsinHumanBehavior,
Evolution,andDevelopment
By Frank Salter
Max Planck Society, Von‐der‐Tann‐Str. 3, 82346
Andechs,Germany
The most direct way to begin this comment is
by responding to the questions posed by H.
Dieter Steklis and Netzin G. Steklis (2011;
hereafterS&S)attheendoftheirarticle.
• Ihopethattheadvancesdescribedinthepaper,
especially regarding epigenetics of behavior,
willallownewmultidisciplinaryinitiatives.The
exampleslieoutside my expertise, but itseems
we are faced with the happy prospect of
answeringanewsetofresearchquestionsusing
newtheoryandtechniques.
• A
formalized Graduate Interdisciplinary
Program(GIDP)iscertainlyworthatry.
• Being the recipient of a cross‐disciplinary
doctorate (in political ethology) 20 years ago it
ismyexperiencethatGIDPgraduateswill find
it difficult to find placement in traditional
departments. The same applies to many
students who specialize
in human ethology.
Where are the jobs for them? I recommend
making the negotiation of opportunities for
graduatesanintegralpartoftheproject.
• Regarding the name of the program, it might
well be that a neologism will fare better than
“human ethology”, at least for a while.
However, there
are costs associated with
abandoning that name, mainly resulting from