…so says a study offered by a University of Pennsylvania lecturer, Albert Mannes.
Mannes, who is balding himself, and curious about the perception of bald men vs. men with hair, performed a series of experiments on test subjects, and the results were quite surprising.
Men who were bald, as in completely bald, were seen as more masculine–taller, stronger and dominant, than men with hair. An initial study led Mannes to offer another test including photos that would be judged by subjects–one photo of a man with hair (natural or digitally added), to be compared to another picture of the same individual without hair (naturally or digitally removed). The baldies proved one thing to the individuals polled: They were somehow more masculine without hair!?
Even men who were shorter in stature, were thought to be taller than they actually were, based simply on the fact that they had no hair. Everything about Bruce Willis is starting to make a little more sense.
And how about other celebrities such as Ving Rhames, Vin Diesel and the late Michael Clarke Duncan–three dudes who are certified badass. OK, MCD was a mountain of a man. But, as the study showed, people’s perception of other bald men rely heavily on such examples. Including the stereotyped convict, who always seems to be bald. Jason Statham has found the short-cropped male pattern baldness to work well in his favor. And he’s big, right? A certified manly-man? Eh. He’s 5’10″…with shoes on.
No, the student wasn’t relegated to action stars. Just regular guys with and without hair. I suppose Mr. Clean was on to something.
