SEXNET: A Neural Network Identifies Sex From Human Faces

People can capably tell if a human face is male or female. Recognizing the sex of conspecifics is important. ''''hile some animals use pheromones to recognize sex, in humans this task is primarily visual. How is sex recognized from faces? By and large we are unable to say. Although certain features are nearly pathognomonic for one sex or the other (facial hair for men, makeup or certain hairstyles for women), even in the absence of these cues the determination is made; and even in their presence, other cues may override. Sex-recognition in faces is thus a. prototypical pattern recognition task of the sort at which humans excel, but which has vexed traditional AI. It appea.rs to follow no simple algorithm, and indeed is modifiable according to fashion (makeup, hair etc).