COVID-19: New study reveals women find men wearing surgical face masks more attractive

The COVID-19 pandemic has arguably, in the last two years, offered more bad than good. However, there have been several moments of positivity and in another development, British academics have unearthed an interesting finding. A new peer-reviewed study by Cardiff University revealed that both women and men find each other more attractive in protective medical-grade masks. The study reversed previous findings from February 2021 that claimed reduced attractiveness due to the usage of face masks.

The "beauty of occlusion" is provenly more appealing than revealing the whole face, the researchers of the study highlighted. While fashionable coverings were preferred by some, mostly every participant voted for the disposable-type surgical mask as most attractive, the study by researchers at Cardiff University noted. Surprisingly, they added, both men and women were judged to look better by obscuring the lower half of the faces.

The study was a part of understanding the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mutual attractiveness among men and women. It was a continuation to learning more about mate choice and shifted norms in the wake of the COVID pandemic. The study involved 43 female undergraduate psychology students who viewed 40 male faces. The faces of men were displayed in four different ways- with cloth masks, books in front of their face, medial masks and uncovered.

"We want to test whether (COVID) had changed mate choice since face-covering became ubiquitous and understand the type of mask had any effect," Dr Michael Lewis, a face expert in Cardiff University School of Psychology and researcher in the study said, as quoted by The Guardian.

"Our study suggests faces are considered most attractive and covered by medical face masks. This may be because we are used to health care workers wearing blue masks and now we associate these with people in carrying on medical professionals. At the time when we feel vulnerable we may find the wearing of Medical masks reassuring and feel more positive towards the wearer," he explained.

Women find men most attractive with medical face masks: Researchers

The study went to specify that women participants displayed more inclination towards men wearing medical-grade face masks. In addition, women also preferred men wearing cloth masks over those who had no coverings at all, yet not as attractive as those with surgical masks. "One might have expected fashion masks to improve attractiveness more so it was surprising that medical masks had a greater effect," Dr Lewis told USA Today.

"The pandemic has changed the psychology in how we perceive the wearer's off mask. When you see someone wearing a mask you no longer think 'that person has a disease, I need to stay away.' this relates to the evolutionary psychology and why we select partners we do," Dr Lewis told The Guardian.

Explaining further into the shift in the graph, Dr Lewis added that previously face masks were linked to illness and now they are associated with caring professionals. In addition, the masks did not come to play since they covered "potentially undesirable features," instead signalled that mask-wearing is a "sign of being responsible and caring citizens," thus, positively impacting attractiveness. The study reverberates another study conducted by Japanese researchers in June 2021, which concluded that men preferred women wearing face masks over those without them.

(Image: Unsplash/Representative)