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Sexual attractiveness or sex appeal refers to a person's ability to attract in a sexual or erotic manner the interest of another person. The attraction may be to a physical quality of a person, or it may be to other more nebulous qualities of the person.

Though attempts have been made to devise objective criteria of sexual attractiveness, a person's sexual attractiveness is to a large extent a subjective measure dependent on another person's interest, perception and sexual orientation. For example, a gay or lesbian would typically find a person of the same-sex to be more attractive then one of the other gender. A bisexual person would typically find both sexes to be equally attractive. Asexuality refers to those who do not experience sexual attraction for either sex, though they may have romantic attraction (homoromantic or heteroromantic).

Social and biological factors

Human sexuality has many aspects. In biology, sexuality describes the reproductive mechanism as well as the basic biological drive that exists in all species and can encompass sexual intercourse and sexual contact in all its forms. There are also emotional and physical aspects of sexuality. These relate to the bond that exists between individuals, which may be expressed through profound feelings or emotions. Sociologically, it can cover the cultural, political, and legal aspects; and philosophically, it can span the moral, ethical, theological, spiritual or religious aspects.

Which aspects of a person's sexuality attracts another is influenced by cultural factors, and has varied over time, as well as personal factors. Influencing factors may be determined more locally among sub-cultures, across sexual fields, or simply by the preferences of the individual. These preferences come about as a result of a complex variety of genetic, psychological, and cultural factors.

A person's physical appearance has a critical impact on their sexual attractiveness. This involves the impact one's appearance has on the senses, especially in the beginning of a relationship:

• Visual perception (how the other looks and acts);
• Audition (how the other's voice and/or movements sound).
• Olfaction (how the other smells, naturally or artificially; the wrong smell may be repellent);

As with other animals, pheromones may also have an impact, though less significantly in the case of humans. Theoretically, the "wrong" pheromone may cause someone to be disliked, even when they would otherwise appear attractive. Frequently a pleasant smelling perfume is used to encourage the member of the opposite sex to more deeply inhale the air surrounding its wearer^{[citation needed]}, increasing the probability that the pheromones from the individual will also be inhaled. The importance of pheromones in human relationships is probably limited and is widely disputed,^[1] although it appears to have some scientific basis.^[2]

Many people exhibit high levels of sexual fetishism, and are sexually stimulated by other stimuli not normally associated with sexual arousal. The degree to which such fetishism exists or has existed in different cultures is controversial.

See also

• Mating system
• Erotic capital
• Erogenous zone
• Human height
• Human physical appearance
• Interpersonal attraction
• Lookism
• Physical attractiveness
• Sexual arousal
• Sex in advertising
• Sexual dimorphism
• Sexual field
• Sexual selection
• Sex symbol

Notes

References

External links

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• Sexual Attraction Among Humans
• FaceResearch – Scientific research and online studies on the role of faces in sexual attraction
• Reunions Set Off Sex Urges, Article on sexual attraction among birth relatives sparked by reunion.
• www.lookism.info deconstruction of attraction and beauty standards