As usual, OkCupid’s latest blogpost tries to take some of the mystery out of online dating, explaining “The Mathematics of Female Beauty.” They’re expanding upon their work about what white people really like, and the difference between straight sex and gay sex, as if we weren’t aware of both those answers on some deep subconscious level. But this new post made me wonder: what’s the difference between facesnarking and healthy commentary and conjecture?
Specifically focused on women (don’t worry, men are to come), this piece “investigates female attractiveness, but without the usual photo analysis stuff. Instead, we look past a woman’s picture, into the reaction she creates in the reptile mind of the human male.” Basically, with the permission of some OkCupid users, the writers looked at different photos of women to see whether those that were rated the highest on their site actually got the most messages. The results might surprise you, or maybe not: they found that women whose looks are more polarizing actually get more messages than women who …
