A person’s face can reveal a lot about them. Take its shape. Guys with wide, square faces tend to be more aggressive and dominant than those with long, narrow mugs, studies have shown.
Testosterone face
Researchers refer to the facial width-to-height ratio (FWHR) and there’s a reason it’s been linked to certain character traits: the hormone testosterone. During puberty, testosterone levels have an influence on the way a person’s face develops. More testosterone is linked to a shorter and wider shape.
The hormone is also known to be involved in personality traits and behaviour. It plays a role in aggressiveness and dominance, for example, but also in aspects of sexuality. Levels of testosterone are related to how interested a person is in sex, their sexual fantasies, and how they get turned on, research has shown.
Sex drive
But up until now, there haven’t been any studies to look at whether FWHR is related to sexual behaviour. Enter a group of researchers from across Canada. They figured that chances are good the shape of a person’s face says a thing or two about who they are when it comes to sex.
Specifically, the researchers’ theory was that men and women with wide, square faces would have a higher sex drive than those with narrow, longer faces. To test this out, they conducted two studies involving just over 450 students. The students had their pictures taken and then answered questions about their sex drive, like how often they got aroused. In the second study, the students also told the researchers whether they were into casual sex and if they’d ever thought about cheating on their partners.
More sex, more orgasms, more cheating
Sure enough, men and women with particularly square, wide faces turned out to have a higher sex drive than your average person, the researchers learned. In the study, they got aroused more often and said their sex drive was probably higher than other people of the same age and sex. These participants also had more orgasms per month and masturbated more often.
Men with these facial features also tended to be more easy-going about casual sex, and more likely to think about cheating on their partner, the study found.
So just as the researchers suspected, a person’s face can reveal a thing or two about their sex life. The results are the first to link the shape of a person’s face to sexual behaviour.
Reference: The Facial Width-to-Height Ratio Predicts Sex Drive, Sociosexuality, and Intended Infidelity. Arch Sex Behav. (2017) Published online September 19.
The persons in the picture are models. This article was first published on November 1, 2017.
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