Sexual Anthropology, Tuesday, Period 2

[doesnt-vomit.livejournal.com]

"Good morning," Brennan greeted the class once everyone seemed to be in a seat. "Today we're talking about the role physical attraction plays in sexual selection. You'll often hear that everyone has his own taste, but, in fact, there are certain signifiers that are universal across most cultures."

"Due to time constraints and your level, I will not be going into as much detail as one might like, but if you're especially interested I can recommend the work of Natalie Angier or Desmond Morris as good popular science authors covering this topic."

"Now" -- she smiled -- "we talk about what those universal signifiers are. For both genders, people are attracted to those who look young and healthy as a symbol of fertility, and those with symmetrical features as a sign of good health. In evolutionary biology terms, all of those features help to assure us that our potential mate would create strong children, and that is a hard-wired preference even when we aren't looking to create new life. In addition, we tend to be drawn to the average. Faces created by using a computer to mathematically blend many images are often rated as more attractive than any single image."

"For men, women and males seeking male partners tend to look for a V-shaped torso, a muscular frame and height about 1.1 times that of the average woman. Women prefer more prominent masculine features when fertile and more feminine, soft features at other times. Men commonly seen as attractive often blend those elements. For example, Paul Newman" -- she flashed a photo of the actor -- "had a wiry frame that offered strength without the bulk that might indicate an overabundance of testosterone, highly symmetrical features, a feminine mouth and eyes, but a very masculine nose and brow ridge."

"There's been much more research done on what makes women attractive, possibly because most scientists are male." She smiled thinly at that. "Features such as a symmetrical face, full lips, and low waist-hip ratio are commonly considered physically attractive on a woman, because they are thought to indicate physical health and high fertility to a potential mate. Other attractive aspects include correlates of fertility such as youth, a waist-hip ratio of about .7; full, perky and symmetrical breasts; a body mass proportion that fits into the societal ideal; blond hair; full red lips; clear eyes; lustrous hair; and good muscle tone. If you look at someone like Heidi Klum, you'll see all of those features."

She paused to sip from her coffee. "Today, I've compiled a large group of magazines containing images of a wide range of celebrities from the last thirty years. I would like for each of you to select one person you find attractive and explain how he or she fits into the general societal ideal."

[OOC: Images of Paul Newman and Heidi Klum may be somewhat NSFW -- his is shirtless, hers is in a Victoria's Secret show. Please see my OOC note on selecting photos. OCD is done!]

Comments

Sign In [Sexual Anthropology, 5/19]

[doesnt-vomit.livejournal.com]

Attractively!

Re: Sign In [Sexual Anthropology, 5/19]

[flashesforinfo.livejournal.com]

Angela Montenegro

General Class Stuff [Sexual Anthropology, 5/19]

[doesnt-vomit.livejournal.com]

Listen to the lecture, ask questions, admire the pretty, doodle, chat (quietly, please).

Re: General Class Stuff [Sexual Anthropology, 5/19]

[flashesforinfo.livejournal.com]

Looking through magazines for hot people? This was definitely not a bad way to spend a class, and the grin Angela was wearing probably displayed that thought.

She thought maybe there was a little more to it than just scientifically symmetrical features, but was more than happy to put that thought on pause for the moment.

Re: General Class Stuff [Sexual Anthropology, 5/19]

[ihaveniceteeth.livejournal.com]

Gwen started looking through the magazines. When she came across a picture of a poodle, she snickered quietly, thinking of John Hart.

Re: General Class Stuff [Sexual Anthropology, 5/19]

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

Alex couldn't really complain about checking out hot chicks in magazines. He'd be kind of stupid to really bitch about this sort of thing.

Re: General Class Stuff [Sexual Anthropology, 5/19]

[joan-notjane.livejournal.com]

Wow, this was not what Joan was expecting from this class. But she could deal with it.

Re: General Class Stuff [Sexual Anthropology, 5/19]

[glacial_queen]

Karla was impressed by the magazines. She'd figured out by now that it wasn't magic that captured such realiztic pictures, but damned if she knew what did. She was almost as interested in the magazines themselves as in the lecture.

She wondered if the relative infertility of witches made them more or less attracted to the signifiers the teacher had mentioned for siring and bearing healthy children.

Re: General Class Stuff [Sexual Anthropology, 5/19]

[death-of-hope.livejournal.com]

Anemone was pretty sure her criteria for finding someone yummy was slightly different than most other people; she had her conditioning to contend with, and her Coralian heritage, too.

She flipped through the magazines happily, ignoring the cruel little voice in the back of her head commenting on too breakable or easy prey as she looked at the pictures. Pretty, darn it, and Anemone was going to enjoy the easy class.

Re: General Class Stuff [Sexual Anthropology, 5/19]

[rocksthescarf.livejournal.com]

This was one of the easier assignments he's had and Chuck took his time picking out the right pictures.

Re: General Class Stuff [Sexual Anthropology, 5/19]

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

Leda scoffed at the blond remark. That was mostly because her own hair was not blond. Certainly Karla was pretty and she was a blond. But then Eleanor was pretty too, and she was a red head.

As for the breasts, that was hard for her, as an Elf to judge. Elf girls didn't tend to be very buxom. Was that why so many Elves liked human girls? Sai certainly had some nice breasts.

Re: General Class Stuff [Sexual Anthropology, 5/19]

[glacial_queen]

Karla raised her hand. "Why blonde? Does that hair color mean the person is healthier or more fertile?" This world went way beyond weird sometimes.

Show Us the Pretty [Sexual Anthropology, 5/19]

[doesnt-vomit.livejournal.com]

Find an image typifying an attractive man or woman, then present it to the class. Discussion definitely encouraged.

Re: Show Us the Pretty [Sexual Anthropology, 5/19]

[joan-notjane.livejournal.com]

"Okay, This (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v163/ladybug218/sa1.jpg) guy (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v163/ladybug218/sa2.jpg) has good muscle definition and a lean, trim build," Joan said. "Plus he has pretty eyes (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v163/ladybug218/sa3.jpg)."


[first two links are shirtless]

Re: Show Us the Pretty [Sexual Anthropology, 5/19]

[ihaveniceteeth.livejournal.com]

Gwen had finally managed to narrow it down to one photo (http://pics.livejournal.com/froggimus_rex/pic/0003t8zx).

"This man has very even features," she began. "Nice cheekbones, he looks very rugged."

Look, she'd mostly chosen it because of the guy's eyes. She was a sucker for piercing eyes.

Re: Show Us the Pretty [Sexual Anthropology, 5/19]

[glacial_queen]

"This male is quite handsome," Karla said decisively. "He appears strong, yet kind. Not easily scared, or broken. And he has very nice cheekbones. In this picture, he looks like Daemon Sadi has very nice eyes and, I don't know, seems powerful. Like, he wouldn't be scared of a strong witch. He would make an excellent Consort."

She would be fine so long as she kept it intellectual. She really liked this one but wasn't entirely sure why.

Re: Show Us the Pretty [Sexual Anthropology, 5/19]

[rocksthescarf.livejournal.com]

"I picked this girl (http://minkafan.net/gallery/albums/photoshoots/esquire/mid_015.jpg) because she's got a nice body and looks fun in the picture. I prefer darker features on a person so that's probably why I went for her." Though he'd really take just about anybody. "I really like her eyes (http://www.minkakelly.org/gallery/albums/PhotoShoots/CosmoShoot/0_(4).jpg) and to be honest she's got a pretty nice rack (http://www.complex.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/minka-kelly-01110903.jpg) on her too."

Please to be ignoring the fact that this chick happened to kind of look like a certain someone that went to this school. Completely coincidence.

Re: Show Us the Pretty [Sexual Anthropology, 5/19]

[likethegun]

Sam sifted through the magazines for a while before settling on a person. "Um, I picked this girl because I think I'm funny she looks like all the ideals you described," he said. "She's tall, she's blonde, and um, she's well-proportioned." He wasn't blushing at the pose of that last one, really.

Re: Show Us the Pretty [Sexual Anthropology, 5/19]

[wantstodirect]

Tony held up a couple of promo photos of Lee Nicholas from Darkest Night, "This guy," he said, "has a well-sculptured masculine build that isn't too bulky, a face that's both," pretty, "good-looking and rugged and he also has, uh, really nice eyes."

Re: Show Us the Pretty [Sexual Anthropology, 5/19]

[puppy_fair]

"I don't know what it is about this girl," Zack mused, holding up a photo of some voice actress by the name of Andrea Bowen, "but I think I really like her smile."

What a shock, Zack Fair liked people for their smiles.

Re: Show Us the Pretty [Sexual Anthropology, 5/19]

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"She's (http://i40.tinypic.com/sm3i3o.jpg) pretty hot," Alex decided after paging through some magazines. "Great hair, pretty eyes, soft looking skin, and the whole pouty mouth thing. I'd hit it."

Of course he would.

"I like the, I dunno, the expression? It's not happy but it's not sad but it's not inviting. It's just sexy."

Re: Show Us the Pretty [Sexual Anthropology, 5/19]

[notasuiciderisk.livejournal.com]

"I found this (http://i499.photobucket.com/albums/rr358/TheAfterlight/mitchhewer2uh3.jpg) guy (http://i499.photobucket.com/albums/rr358/TheAfterlight/mitch.jpg) attractive," Eric said. "I mean, he's got a bit of muscle (http://i499.photobucket.com/albums/rr358/TheAfterlight/mitch-hewer-skins-755166_393_500.jpg)? But it's like the Paul Newman guy, he's not all bulky. And he's got a nice smile, too, which follows from pleasing facial features."

[First and third pictures are vaguely NSFW for shirtless Mitch.]

Talk to the TAs [Sexual Anthropology, 5/19]

[doesnt-vomit.livejournal.com]

Once they tag in!

Re: Talk to the TAs [Sexual Anthropology, 5/19]

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

Valentine was around for her mostly undemanding TA duties, unable to avoid being a little amused over the fact that, just last night, she had realized that she never really thought about these things.

And she probably still wouldn't, much. She liked to think that, anyway. It could very well be opening up a wormhole where all she did for at least a week was consider whether or not a person had 'attractive' features.

What wouldn't change, however, would be the unlikeliness that she'd actually feel an attraction.

Talk to Brennan [Sexual Anthropology, 5/19]

[doesnt-vomit.livejournal.com]

She is around after class.

OOC [Sexual Anthropology, 5/19]

[doesnt-vomit.livejournal.com]

Annnnnd we're done!