Loud-mouthed liberal feminist. Anarchist knitter. Tequila-drinking artsy-smartsy fat chick. Bluesy folk-rock singer-songwriter. Rebel with too many causes. Quirky eclectic pagan poet. Paradoxical intuitive smartass. Sarcastic brainiac insomniac. You know, for starters.

10.02.2008

Attraction is a funny thing.

Usually, physical attraction for me involves a small range of variations on a very specific body type (generally 6'2 or taller, 300 lbs. or so...I like a dude I can put through the paces without fear I'm gonna break him). There are physical traits beyond that that really flip my switch (facial hair, detached earlobes, big hands, yada yada yada), but basically any dude with that body type is going to catch my eye. My dating history includes a few guys who fell outside that, but basically I like tall chubby dudes, and the words short and thin almost never describe someone that my ovaries quiver over.

Having said that, though, there's this little dude who works in my building that I run into in the elevators not infrequently. I find him adorable, in a "wow, I kinda wanna shag him even though he's three inches shorter than me and skinny" kinda way, no doubt due to his friendly manner, nice smile, and habit of making good eye contact. However, my engine has only ever mildly revved, 'cause he's super clean-cut and conservative looking....and I tend to like dudes who are a little more rough around the edges.

Imagine my surprise when I bumped into him on a coffee run this morning, and damn near tripped over myself in lust. He's grown his hair out a little bit, and it's just slightly shaggy, and just slightly curly, and he was wearing jeans and an untucked button down shirt (apparently moving cubes, which loosens the office dress code)....and my ovaries did a backflip. If he'd been unshaven, I might have swooned, short and skinny be damned.

So, yeah, the lesson is that no matter what preconceived notions I have about "my type," I'm attracted to what I'm attracted to, and that isn't always going to be consistent. Despite the marketing industry's attempts to pigeonhole what constitutes "hot," attraction remains a mystery.

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