"The phenomenon is not even confined to the U.S. In 2013, cognitive psychologist Michael Lewis at the University of Cardiff in Wales in the U.K. asked 20 females and 20 males to rate 600 Facebook pictures of British, sub-Saharan Africans, and East Asians. The participants consistently voted black men and Asian women as the most attractive representatives of each gender; Asian men and black women were seen as the least desirable partners.
“Darker skin is always associated with more masculine faces,” Lewis told me in a phone conversation. Difference in height can also partially explain the observed results, he said. Society imposes a “male-superior norm” that a man should be taller than his partner; and blacks are on average taller than whites, who are taller than Asians, he says.
I thought there must be more to the picture. I set off to answer the question, What informs our perception of beauty? Is there really something profound about face shape, height and body features that defines attraction? Or, is beauty merely a social construct amplified by popular culture?"
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