“The glossy sheen of healthy hair is an ideal of human beauty; however, glossiness has never been quantified in the context of non-human animal signaling. Glossiness, the specular reflectance characteristic of polished surfaces, has the potential to act as a signal of quality because it depends upon material integrity and cleanliness.” For those reasons, Matthew […]
Tag: shiny
‘Hmmm, sooo shiny, sooo nice’ – but why?
“Human beings are attracted to glossy objects. Shimmering lipsticks, gleaming cars, dazzling diamonds and sequined gowns […]” Given its prevalence, it’s perhaps surprising that motives for humans to seek out glossy, shiny, smooth things have, until now, gone largely underinvestigated in the scholarly world. A(n) hypothesis is presented, however, by doctoral student Katrien Meert of […]
Smooth bodywork in cars and women
Some have asked questions along the lines of : ‘Is smoothness a semiotic resource in which consumption-oriented superficiality interfaces with ideologically gendered images of women and cars on magazine covers?’ Take for example Dr. Mehita Iqani, who is a Senior Lecturer in Media Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, and who […]