We meet again, listener, connecting across time and space to share a story and to think.

I'm Dessa. This is deeply human, and we're headed into the beating heart of symmetry.

Why are we particularly attracted to faces that look the same on both sides?

How and why is symmetry tied into our ideas of what's beautiful?

We'll start by speaking with a woman named Mafie.

Although she's an effervescent grown-up, as a kid,

Maffy was acutely and uncomfortably aware of our preference for symmetrical faces,

because hers wasn't.

I remember being at a sleepover once at this girl's house.

This guy I went to school with and she was like really rich.

And she had like, you know, these like white carpets and like mini toblower and bars in the cupboard and stuff.

And I remember she had this blonde brats doll, and I remember like looking at it and like saying a

prayer to God and being like, oh, please, please God, like, can I look like this one day?

If you're not familiar with the Brats brand, it's a line of dolls with big heads and tiny

waists wearing nightclub fashions and runway makeup.

They've got exaggerated pouty lips, enormous almond eyes, and almost no-nose, because you don't need a nose to be sexy.

And they are, of course, perfectly symmetrical.

As you might have already gleaned, I am not a huge fan of hypersexualized dolls with alien proportions marketed as playthings for young girls.

I've had this aversion since I myself was a small girl and was once discovered lecturing on the topic while standing at a box in the middle of my daycare center.

I digress. Back to Mafie, who was painfully aware of her own facial asymmetry.

Mafie's mom was awesome, always telling Mafie how beautiful she was.

But moms are so easy to write off.

...