4 ms·

Maybe you can tell the difference but to express your masculinity pretend not to. Why? Because caring and beauty are feminine.

sircastor 4y ago
Familiarity with these sorts of decorative details are often considered to a non-masculine trait. Though I suspect that most of the time it’s just that some people don’t care. And it’s possible that tracks with gender norms, but I think it’s probably that many men don’t feel like they’re allowed to care. A reminder that you’re allowed to care about whatever you want.
jwestbury 4y ago
This is a complicated subject. Color perception is influenced by culture[0], so how someone is raised can impact their ability to discern color differences. It's quite possible that men in (Western|American) cultures are raised in such a way that their color perception is more limited than that of women despite no biological differences. Of course, there's plenty of research[1] showing women are better at color discrimination than men. 0. https://ec.europa.eu/research-and-innovation/en/horizon-magazine/how-we-perceive-colour-depends-our-culture-and-language-prof-anna-franklin https://ec.europa.eu/research-and-innovation/en/horizon-maga... 1. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21675035/#:~:text=Color%20wise%20also%2C%20females%20gave,shades%20of%20colors%20than%20males https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21675035/#:~:text=Color%20wi....
- phicoh 4y ago
  I wonder what the effect is of language. If on average men know only a few names of colors, then how can they remember or talk about the variations in between?
- S_Bear 4y ago
  I started painting miniatures again a few years ago and my appreciation (and vocabulary) for colors has dramatically expanded, especially when I started mixing primaries from scratch. I literally see the world in a different, richer way. I wish I would have realized this sooner. Maybe gutting art programs in American public schools was a bad idea.
  - dekhn 4y ago
    I can second this: spend a lot of time working with subtle color variations (not just frequency, but the various matte/shiny bits). I learned I LOVE highly saturated colors. Recent car paint was also a revelation to me (https://www.blackbirdspyplane.com/p/why-do-new-cars-look-like-this https://www.blackbirdspyplane.com/p/why-do-new-cars-look-lik...).
rayiner 4y ago
There is a biological difference in color perception, as well as hearing and smell: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/body-odd/men-women-really-do-see-world-differently-flna978565 https://www.nbcnews.com/health/body-odd/men-women-really-do-... > Abramov explained in a statement these elements of vision are linked to specific sets of thalamic neurons in the brain's primary visual cortex. The development of these neurons is controlled by male sex hormones called androgens when the embryo is developing into a fetus.
- dekhn 4y ago
  here's the actual science paper, which is always less exciting than the public press. https://bsd.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/2042-6410-3-21 https://bsd.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/2042-6410-3-2...
kayodelycaon 4y ago
So... everyone that works with graphic design is feminine?
msm_ 4y ago
> Because caring and beauty are feminine. Is this something you (or people you're familiar with) believe? Never encountered this norm before.
- yowzadave 4y ago
  I believe the comment was meant as an ironic dismissal of GP's assertion that men can't tell the difference between colors, but women can. As an architect, I can confirm that there are many men who know the difference between cream/milk/eggshell!
  - brookst 4y ago
    This is true, and we should be suspicious of gender stereotypes. But it is also true that on average men are worse at seeing color gradations, just because the incidence of color deficiency is 10x higher in men. So any particular man may see color as well as any particular woman, but if you had to pick one person at random to save the world in the galactic color identification game show, you’d best pick a woman.

sircastor 4y ago

Familiarity with these sorts of decorative details are often considered to a non-masculine trait. Though I suspect that most of the time it’s just that some people don’t care. And it’s possible that tracks with gender norms, but I think it’s probably that many men don’t feel like they’re allowed to care. A reminder that you’re allowed to care about whatever you want.

jwestbury 4y ago

This is a complicated subject. Color perception is influenced by culture[0], so how someone is raised can impact their ability to discern color differences. It's quite possible that men in (Western|American) cultures are raised in such a way that their color perception is more limited than that of women despite no biological differences. Of course, there's plenty of research[1] showing women are better at color discrimination than men. 0. https://ec.europa.eu/research-and-innovation/en/horizon-magazine/how-we-perceive-colour-depends-our-culture-and-language-prof-anna-franklin https://ec.europa.eu/research-and-innovation/en/horizon-maga... 1. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21675035/#:~:text=Color%20wise%20also%2C%20females%20gave,shades%20of%20colors%20than%20males https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21675035/#:~:text=Color%20wi....

phicoh 4y ago
I wonder what the effect is of language. If on average men know only a few names of colors, then how can they remember or talk about the variations in between?
S_Bear 4y ago
I started painting miniatures again a few years ago and my appreciation (and vocabulary) for colors has dramatically expanded, especially when I started mixing primaries from scratch. I literally see the world in a different, richer way. I wish I would have realized this sooner. Maybe gutting art programs in American public schools was a bad idea.
- dekhn 4y ago
  I can second this: spend a lot of time working with subtle color variations (not just frequency, but the various matte/shiny bits). I learned I LOVE highly saturated colors. Recent car paint was also a revelation to me (https://www.blackbirdspyplane.com/p/why-do-new-cars-look-like-this https://www.blackbirdspyplane.com/p/why-do-new-cars-look-lik...).

rayiner 4y ago

There is a biological difference in color perception, as well as hearing and smell: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/body-odd/men-women-really-do-see-world-differently-flna978565 https://www.nbcnews.com/health/body-odd/men-women-really-do-... > Abramov explained in a statement these elements of vision are linked to specific sets of thalamic neurons in the brain's primary visual cortex. The development of these neurons is controlled by male sex hormones called androgens when the embryo is developing into a fetus.

dekhn 4y ago
here's the actual science paper, which is always less exciting than the public press. https://bsd.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/2042-6410-3-21 https://bsd.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/2042-6410-3-2...

kayodelycaon 4y ago

So... everyone that works with graphic design is feminine?

msm_ 4y ago

> Because caring and beauty are feminine. Is this something you (or people you're familiar with) believe? Never encountered this norm before.

yowzadave 4y ago
I believe the comment was meant as an ironic dismissal of GP's assertion that men can't tell the difference between colors, but women can. As an architect, I can confirm that there are many men who know the difference between cream/milk/eggshell!
- brookst 4y ago
  This is true, and we should be suspicious of gender stereotypes. But it is also true that on average men are worse at seeing color gradations, just because the incidence of color deficiency is 10x higher in men. So any particular man may see color as well as any particular woman, but if you had to pick one person at random to save the world in the galactic color identification game show, you’d best pick a woman.