Re: Beautiful Men

Joel \ (twisty@iac.net)
Mon, 11 Nov 1996 09:43:56 -0500 (EST)


On Mon, 11 Nov 1996, David Musick wrote:

> Chris Hind is wondering why women appear so elegant and beautiful to him while
> men appear bland and boring. He's wondering if he'd view it differently, if
> he was a different intelligent species, looking at humans.
>
> Chris, you're a guy. Of course you think women look beautiful. I think women
> look beautiful too. I've noticed something about myself, which I think may be
> common among most males, is that I tend to look at women much more than I look
> at men. If I am passing a group of people, my mind seems to automatically
> look for the women. I think that males' obsession with women causes us to see
> them as more beautiful than men. I also think that most men are very
> reluctant to recognize the beauty of other men, since homophobia is so rampant
> in our society.
>
> I've allowed myself to recognize the beauty of other men, and I think that men
> are as beautiful as women. It is a different sort of beauty, a different
> style, but I think both men and women are very beautiful. It's a matter of
> allowing yourself to see that. And not being scared of unexpected emotions.
>
> - David Musick

I believe that the primary reason for women being portrayed by most as
the more "beautiful" gender is found in traits associated with youth.
Most secondary sexual characteristics imply that they "perish" less from
age than do males: lack of facial hairgrowth, smaller hands and feet,
rounder (arrgh, isn't the 'b' word censored by AOL?)...

These often imply characteristics of youth. For this reason, many people
find androgeny to be a "beautiful" triat of either gender. However, this
does not preclude non-youthful traits from being found beautiful, in
which the "perishing" is done with character. LIkewise, non-androgenous
triats are sometimes admired for the virility they exhibit, like stout,
stubbled chins.

,----.signature-------. Email: me@twisty.org / animator
| ________O_________ | WWW: http://www.twisty.org/ / composer
| / | __ . __ +- | U.S. Snailmail: / illustrator
| || \/ ||(__ | \ \ | Joel "Twisty" Nye / programmer
| | \/\/ |___) \ \/ | 628 Buckeye Street / SF writer
| \_______________/ | Hamilton! Ohio /cyberspatialist
| "From twisted minds | 45011-3449 non-profit organism
`come twisted products"_______________________all_around_nice_guy