In this third discussion in a four-part series on the relationship between health, beauty, and senior life, we examine: Beauty, Health, and Gender.

"There's still a double standard," the first senior woman was complaining.
"I suppose so," her friend, also a senior and a female, reluctantly agreed.
"For us women, it still matters a lot how we look."
"It does."
"But men can get away with sloppy clothes and pot bellies."
"It's changing though."
"Maybe, but not fast enough," the first senior woman retorted, emphasizing her belief by shaking her head, "I see the way my grandson dresses when he goes out with his girl-friend. Why, she takes a lot of care about her appearance. She wears very pretty clothes and has her hair all made up so sweetly, but he always looks slovenly. He wears dirty jeans and is often unshaven. I could go on and on..."
"But you still love him."
"Of course I do, he's my flesh and blood, but he still looks terrible."
"The men in our generation are better."
"Are they? Are they really? I'm not sure. They can get away with being out of shape and unkempt. We women are expected to look right."
"Good for us."
"There you go again putting a positive spin on everything."
"We look better and feel better."

This conversation between two senior women reminded me of a long-standing controversy about gender, 'looks', and health. No matter if eighty year-olds or eighteen year-olds are debating the issues, the same question come up: do 'looks' matter more for women than they do for men?

One argument is that they do, and that women feel more pressure to worry about how they look. This puts more stress on them, and is associated with higher rates of eating disorders and depression among women.

But an alternative argument is that we should not just consider how much 'looks' matter, but how women and men pay attention to health generally. Women talk about health issues more, they consult with physicians more, and they live longer than men. By some measures, the gap between life expectancy for women and men has even increased in the last 50 years or so. This is counter-intuitive, because it was assumed that as women enter the workforce, the stresses of working life would lower their life expectancy to be closer to that of men. If we take length of life as the ultimate indicator of health, women continue to be significantly healthier than men.

Gender and 'Looks'

Although men are now spending more money on improving their looks, the bulk of the $160 billion-a-year international beauty industry relies on spending by and for women. Why should looks matter more for women than for men? One group of researchers believe they have the answer. According to evolutionary psychologists, the answer to this mystery is revealed when we consider the gene, rather than the individual, as the unit of analysis, and assume competition for survival to be about the survival of genes. Individual humans serve as convenient vehicles for transporting genes and ensuring their survival.

From this perspective, differences in behavior between women and men arise because of differences in the 'best possible strategies' available to women and men for passing on their genes. Women can have a limited number of children during the 'child bearing years', roughly a 30 year period between the teens and the mid 40s. The number of children women can have is limited by the 9-month pregnancy period. Men, on the other hand, can have a much larger number of children over a longer time, roughly over a 60-year duration. Men are not limited by a pregnancy period.

This biological difference between women and men, according to evolutionary psychologists, leads to behavioral differences designed to maximize the possibility of genes being passed on. Because they can have few children, and thus fewer opportunities to pass on their genes, women are more cautious in selecting sexual partners. They look for partners who will be reliable and resourceful. Men, on the other hand, can have a far greater number of children and rely on sheer quantity to ensure their genes are passed on, so they can be less selective in their sexual partners. Evolutionary psychologists argue that behavioral differences support their viewpoint: males are reportedly more promiscuous, more inclined to engage in 'casual sex', and to fall in and out of love more quickly.

According to this viewpoint, then, women try to be selective and to attract the more reliable, resourceful men (of course, how well a man dresses could be an indicator of resources). How do some women attract more males to compete for their attention? From one perspective, the answer is 'looks': better looking women attract more men. But 'looks' are important in this context because they signal health and child-bearing potential. To understand the success of the beauty industry, we have to keep in mind the association between beauty and health. This point is fairly well accepted. However, what is less discussed is how the relationship between beauty, health, and gender is changing.

Female-Male 'Beauty Gap' and 'Health Gap'

Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein: these two women launched the modern beauty industry through their pioneering efforts early in the 20th century. The most revolutionary feature of their approach was to view cosmetics and hair treatments as part of a holistic approach to beauty and health. Their idea was not just to put on a new lipstick, for example, and change lip color, but to also to change diet, activities, and feelings. In short, to move to a different, more positive self-identity.

Arden and Rubinstein marketed beauty and health together, and this proved to be a fantastic success. But they did not invent the link between beauty and health: that was already there through our evolutionary history. Children do not have to be taught that clear skin is beautiful, they naturally sense it. Of course, children are not aware that clear skin signals good health, but they are nevertheless influenced by this signal.

By highlighting the link between beauty and health, we raise a new question about a possible link between gender differences in investments in beauty and gender differences in investments in health. Women spend a lot more time and effort than do men on beautifying themselves; this is well known in the beauty industry. Women also pay a lot more attention to their health than do men, if we take visits to doctors, self-monitoring of personal health, time spent talking about personal health, and so on, as indicators.

My view is that gender differences in attention to personal health are strongly linked to gender differences in attention to beauty. In a sense, attention to health is the same as attention to beauty. In our efforts to try to improve the health and beauty of both women and men, a first step is to recognize that health signals beauty.