It may not be something you think about much, by why is it that when I see that boy from down the road I've never spoken to, even from a distance, I know he's a boy despite his ridiculously long hair? Why do I recognize girls as girls with boyish haircuts, and if we don't need to look at hair to recognize boys from girls then 1.) What is it that makes it to obvious and 2.) why the stereotype on who should have what length of hair? How did I know Gail Porter was a woman when I saw a head shot of her (btw... her hair has started growing back so yay for her )??? What are the characteristics of male vs female? Broader chin? Pointier chin? Then how do I recognize male and female just from the eyes alone , even people from another race who may have slightly different features... how do you know...???
I saw a very interesting documentary about an American man who had lost his sight as an infant. Now in his 40's he underwent a pioneering operation which partly restored his sight and the documentary was following him learning to see again. The interesting thing was he could not tell the difference between men and women. He knew that usually men had short hair and women long hair, or that (normally) only men have beards or facial hair so by those rules he could make an informed guess. If he met a long haired, clean shaven man though he would not be able to tell their gender by sight alone. So i guess over time we learn the differences in body shape, gait, clothing and all the other subtle and not so subtle differences that visually separate men from women. So if the boy down the road dressed up in woman's clothes, walked like a girl and you only saw him from behind, could you tell he was a boy?
There's also the fact that most guys don't have boobs.. Well that doesn't really work in in America..
He he...drag. Anyways, its a learned condition. Most kids dont see much of a difference between the two, excepting cooties of course, until that great time in all our lives when things start changing. Just my two cents.
There are general facial characteristics that you generally associate with a man or a woman but they can be very subtle differences. But as has been pointed out, it isn't always true and you find men that look like women and vice versa.
some time it is very hard to tell but general bone structural usually gives it away (most of the time)
Cycling home this evening I saw what I thought was a straggly Amy Winehouse-esque middle aged woman trying too hard to look cool walking up the hill, but it turned out to be a 20something bloke... Really weird.
well there's this really interesting thing called semiology....it's about how we're conditioned to interpret signs or something like that. hundreds and hundreds of books out there on it.
Females tend to be proportionally smaller and therefore have smaller heads and faces with eyes that appear relatively bigger (and yes, they also have smaller brains but the density of neurons and connections is the same as that of men). They also have less angular features and a different skin complexion. They have markedly less facial hair, obviously, and a smaller larynx resulting in a higher voice and the absence of an obvious adam's apple. Whole-body wise, there is gait: women have wider hips and therefore walk differently from men, with a lower center of gravity requiring them not to have to swing their arms very much (which is why you will see women walk with their arms crossed --men could not comfortably do that; they'd have to work harder at keeping balance). Women also have a narrower, longer sternum while men have wider shoulders. Basically, women walk with their lower body, men with their upper body. Big chested women certainly could not walk like men because their breasts would have too much inertia and pull them all over the place. Men, on the other hand, have too narrow hips to manage high heels very well but it makes them better runners. Gestures and motor actions are also different; some attribute that to differences in muscle strength and build. Research has certainly found it is not all cultural.
I tend to determine the difference by the jawline, it seems that men have a wider jaw than women. Its probably the case that everybody determines the difference between different sexes in different ways.
I honestly tend to look at the tits, that's a surefire clue of which way it goes, although even with surgery I guess that's not even entirely accurate these days :| If you're talking headshots only, facial hair is quite hard to hide, men tend to have rougher skin as well, as a lot of women moisturise and stuff. If you go right down to the level of shaving hair and beard (if applicable) and using make up to cover any evidence of facial hair, it'd probably be pretty tough to work it out I guess.
