Photo: REX USA/Stewart Cook.
In the endless Mars vs. Venus debate, a recent bit of news reveals that, hey, we're not all that different. A "survey" prompted participants to describe their favorite features on famous female faces, and then combining said features into one freaky, CGI woman. The interesting part is the comparison between the ideal woman, according to men, and the ideal woman, according to women: similar in some ways, but with a few key differences.
Apparently, men preferred blondes (like Shakira), while ladies went for brunettes. High cheekbones were popular across the board, and Angelina Jolie made more than a few appearances, particularly for men. Oh, and all the most-mentioned celebrities were white — aside from the extremely beautiful Frida Pinto. Is this because, after being flooded with societally ingrained, popular-opinion obsessions with porcelain beauty and Anglo features, it's just second nature to think of white celebs as the definition of beauty? Is it also possible that this study is not really representative of people's actual desires?
Of course, the true lesson here is that each of the women whose features are named is actually much more beautiful than the composite. That's in part because they don't reside in an unfortunate neighborhood known as the Uncanny Valley, but also because perfect features on their own are not enough to make a person beautiful. It's the unique combination of facial features, and the experience that lives in expressions, that makes someone gorgeous — even if that person is already equipped with Jolie lips or Pinto hair.
If you are so inclined, you can see the full composite photos over on the Daily Mail.