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According to articles in the Daily Mail, three-quarters of all women surveyed avoid having their photo taken. The only thing that surprises me about this claim is that the number sounds too low. Also, I think many men hate having their picture taken just as much.

 

Three or four years ago, when he was in the 6^th grade, my son did a cool science-fair project. His hypothesis was that people hate photos of themselves because they are used to seeing themselves in the mirror, where the image is reversed. Therefore, all the little minor asymmetries of your face appear to be on the wrong side and the image looks wrong to you. My son took people’s pictures and then showed them the results, some regular and some that he had reversed. He asked them which pictures they liked. People who reported hating their own photos did generally choose a reversed image as their favorite. And now, when I did a quick Google search about why people hate their photos, I see that other people –maybe even grown-up scientists doing real research – have thought the same thing. (Yay, my boy!)

 

My husband and my kids have told me that my profile picture is just way too weird and I need to put up another. So, in the interests of stopping my husband from snapping pictures of me with his phone all the time, I have chosen one that he took the other day.

 

Yes, I think the reason I can tolerate this one is that my sunglasses cover half my face. But since my whole head was covered in the last one, I consider this progress.

 

A sweet new ad from Dove, about this very topic. (The video can also be found here.)