Susan's Place Transgender Resources

http://www.physorg.com/news162643749.html (http://www.physorg.com/news162643749.html)

A study where color was used to determine gender.

QuoteIn the Université de Montréal study, subjects were asked to identify gender based on images where parts of faces were concealed using a technology called Bubbles. Credit: Nicolas Dupuis-Roy -- Université de Montréal / Journal of Vision

This is really cool. Thank you for posting it. I often try to deconstruct why I gender people myself, so it's something I've been vaguely aware of but not able to describe in any terribly useful way. (The ruddy-faced paunchy 60-year-old Texan good ol' boy, however, is something I've always dreaded becoming, so the ruddiness of men's faces is something I've had a better understanding of.) I've also noticed the effect with how I use makeup. Obviously covering up whatever shadow I have helps, but also getting the eyes to "pop" with different eyeshadow, liner, mascara, etc. seems to be in line with what they are describing. Perhaps these subtle changes in tone are what make hrt work to feminize the face in ways that aren't easily quantifiable.

This is really cool, but what I often hate about astounding new research is it's often less than 2,000 people who are involved in the study. I understand the difficulties in doing such large scale research but it's this nasty little underscore when you read something cool like this and find out it only has 30 participants.

Quote"A man's face usually reflects less light around the eyebrows. This is because they are usually thicker. The same applies to the upper lip and chin, which are hairier areas," he adds, noting people clearly use colour to rapidly identify gender.

That makes it sound like a simple matter of nothing more than hair removal: laser or electrolysis, and eyebrow plucking. As for color, makeup can work wonders.

From what I have read, here and elsewhere, HRT changes the complexion of both F2M's and M2F's.