Digital Culture Is Literally Reshaping Women’s Faces

May 26, 2023

(Wired) – Ever on the bleeding edge, Korean doctors have already been taking globalism into account. So Yeon Leem, a Korean biologist turned social scientist, says clinics are designing and constantly tweaking their computer algorithms for analyzing aesthetically appealing faces so they can recommend optimal procedures to their clients. These algorithms measure the proportions of pretty people of all different ethnicities and analyze the aggregate data to discover “global proportions … what the common beauty ideal is in all races.” This is part of the technological gaze at work, feeding and creating demand at the same time. Machines learn which faces and traits conform to science-glazed “magic” ratios and present us with the latest aesthetic standards to reach. Inevitably, they require costly interventions or more aesthetic labor. (Read More)