to some extent i think "beauty" filters on tiktok are altering people's perception of how girls look in general (especially as images viewed on a screen). static images extracted from highly compressed video of girls never have any shadows on their faces any more and their skin is smoothed out as shadows are seen as ugly and scary. the contrast between shadow versus no shadow becomes extremely apparent when placed side by side. so it's no wonder faces with shadows seem extra jarring since it's unexpected, it has a threatening quality