Not you.
Cardiff University researchers have a beauty tip for pandemic times: if all else fails, try hiding your face under a mask.
In their study, the team asked 43 women to rate the attractiveness of 10 male faces wearing: no mask, a plain cloth mask, a blue surgical mask and a book covering the area where a mask would normally sit.
(They did not look at the relative hotness of men wearing masks under their nose because everyone knows that’s a real turn-off.)
Curiously, the men sporting surgical masks received the highest attractiveness score.
“This may be because we’re used to healthcare workers wearing blue masks and now we associate these with people in caring or medical professions,” said psychologist Dr Michael Lewis.
“At a time when we feel vulnerable, we may find the wearing of medical masks reassuring and so feel more positive towards the wearer.”
Prior to the pandemic, studies found that masks made the wearers seem less attractive because they were associated with illness and disease, he said.
The study was published in the journal Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications.
That face coverings are making a comeback is no surprise; fiction tells us that men in masks do well among the ladies…
The Back Page can feel a “Masked Bachelor” series in the making. Send nominations to felicity@medicalrepublic.com.au
