One of the uses of the
soft focus filter that many of us are familiar with is in old
Star Trek episodes. After watching a number of these I referred to it
disparagingly as the "chick filter", because any
attractive woman on the show invariably had her close-up shots soft-focused. It's all hard-edged
Captain Kirk, then cut to a close-up of Lieutenant
Uhura, who appears to be standing in a cloud of
talcum powder...
I was recently shocked and amused to find that on the board of faculty pictures at my new university department, the two female professors' photos were the only ones in soft-focus! This despite the fact that many a warty, hairy male prof could have well benefited from it...