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Universal Attractions Since a coworker of mine is getting married, he recently had a bachelor party, complete with strippers. Though I was invited, I didn't attend. Not really a surprise there. Still, this event led into conversations among my largely female coworkers about strippers. All of the girls agreed that they would rather see a woman strip than a man. As one put it, "When men shake stuff around it's disgusting. When women do it, it's not." The consensus was that women are simply more attractive than your average hairy beefcake. So, are there universal attractions? That is, are there certain people who are simply more physically attractive, regardless of the attractions of the observer? Attractions are a physical reaction to physical stimuli and the reaction (attraction) varies with the stimuli. For example, we all know what cute is. We see big eyes and a round face and, whether it's an animal or a child, we are attracted to its innate cuteness. We don't have to be a child-lover to see it any more than we do to have our instinct to protect it kick in. Let's say that there is a soft-featured child next to a rough-featured man. Whether we fight it or even acknowledge it, an instinct kicks in within almost all of us to protect the more attractive of the two from the other. The same biological reaction occurs when we place a cute child next to an ugly/rough-looking child or a cute dog next to an ugly/rough-looking one. The instinct tells us to cuddle and comfort the cute one and fear and shun the ugly one. It is a biology that we live with every day and must understand or it will control us. Understanding is, after all, the key to everything from ending war to why I write these thoughts. Since estrogen makes people, male or female, more attractive, estrogen-filled women are naturally more attractive than testosterone-filled men. Testosterone brings rougher, less curvy shapes, whether on the face or body. Soft, smooth skin is universally attractive and women and children are more likely to have it. Yet, that's not to say that women can be universally attractive and men can't. There are universally attractive men who are not brutes, but handsome. Naturally, they are generally young, as age wrinkles and sharpens once soft features. With boys today being more universally attractive, if they avoid meat they could become universally attractive adults. Still, the average person is not really attractive, but simply average. And, because of our biological instincts, we treat those non-average, or ugly, individuals differently, whether we're aware of it or not. So, let's be aware of how we treat people. Like it or not, good-looking people have an advantage in life. They are more likely to succeed and accomplish things they set their minds to. It's not because universally attractive people are more talented or more driven. People are more likely to help people who are good looking versus those who are not. As Joey says, "Society naturally fears and shuns ugly people. They may say, 'Oh no, we're not that superficial,' but they are. I've heard some people say that one person's "ugly" can b e another person's "hot," but unless the two people are looking at two different parts of the person in question, he or she is still either attractive, average, or unattractive. It can be a depressing and definitely politically (socially) incorrect concept, but it is nonetheless true. There are universal attractions and the sooner we are aware of them, the sooner we can be aware of our reactions to them. Previous | My Thoughts | Topics | Next |