Mauve Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 The definitions, as you can see, are very basic and elementary. But for the purposes of this thread, I think they are adequate. To summarize the chart: Sexual Attraction: Desire sexual contact with another person. Romantic Attraction: Desire a romantic relationship with another person. Crushes: Romantic attraction to someone - possibly temporary or never acted upon. Squishes: Desire for a strong platonic relationship with someone. Sensual Attraction: Desire for tactile sensuality - cuddling, etc. Aesthetic Attraction: Appreciating appearances. I am curious as to how many of these attractions you have experienced. Personal Findings: I for one have only experienced two so far - aesthetic attraction and crushes. In the case of aesthetic attraction, I can appreciate a person whose appearance is put together thoughtfully but this is as far as it goes. As for crushes - I get these on a regular basis but they are tiny, insignificant observations. I have never wanted these crushes to develop into something more and am quite content to let them be. I will also likely forget about them once the day is over - so I am not heavily or emotionally invested in any of these "crushes". If anything, these crushes tell me that I am a Romantic Asexual, rather than Aromantic. On a personal note, I was quite surprised that I could only ever relate to two attractions out of six but it makes sense, if I add up 2 and 2 together - as I've never had the desire to participate in a relationship, as my "crushes" never develop to a romantic attraction or relationship. What about you? How many attractions can you relate to? What are your findings? Link to post Share on other sites
Philip027 Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 I experience what I think are crushes and romantic attraction (which pretty much fall under the same boat). Pretty sure not anything else. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 Romantic attraction, sensual attraction Link to post Share on other sites
Satin Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 Voted only for squishes. I find the concepts of aesthetic and sensual attraction kind of hard to grasp and I don't think I experience any of the sort. Link to post Share on other sites
Fire & Rain Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 I voted for crushes and squishes because I feel the attraction that lies somewhere between those two. Link to post Share on other sites
Tora Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 Voted for romantic attraction (had this once towards my ex boyfriend) and squish (also once towards my now best friend). Link to post Share on other sites
romantic-woman Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 i am able to experience romantic, aesthetic attraction , squishes and crushes. it depends on the person i have to deal with. But i am sure that i have no sexual attraction. Link to post Share on other sites
Falcom92 Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 For the most part I've only experienced squishes and aesthetic attraction, although there's been a couple of time that I've had crushes. Sexual attraction has never been a thing for me, though. Link to post Share on other sites
Xavy Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 Aesthetic and squishes. Link to post Share on other sites
Pyro Yoshi Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 Crushes, romantic attraction and asthetic attraction. I've also experienced sexual attraction, but only once. Link to post Share on other sites
Cherellice Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 I have never, so far in my life, experienced sexual attraction and I hope I never will. Well, I might have had two crushes but they were so fleeting I hesitate to call them crushes. It was more like I found those two boys cute and they made me giggle...so not really crush, but more like humor attraction? :P I don't think I have felt romantic attraction so far... Aesthetic attraction is the one I have experience the most and the one I understand the best. I've also experienced sensual attraction (for fictional characters but I think it still counts) but I forgot to vote for it. :P Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 Voted all but "sexual attraction" and squishes. Didn't vote squish because I'm still not sure how it's supposed to be different from just wanting to be friends. *shrug* Link to post Share on other sites
Moon Thief Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 Aesthetic attraction and squishes are the only that I have experienced. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 Crushes, romantic and aesthetic, definitely. I'm not sure about squishes...it depends how strong the platonic relationship is supposed to be. I don't want to hug anyone, thanks. Link to post Share on other sites
Hazel lights Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 I've had multiple squishes, almost always on guys. Before I realized I was aromantic I would mistake them for romantic attraction. They're always very brief, usually disputing in the couple weeks it takes me to properly get to know them. I've never experienced sexual, romantic, or sensual attraction. I do think some people are gorgeous though. To me pretty girls are more aesthetically attractive than hot guys, which made me very confused when I was questioning my sexual orientation and didn't realize that aesthetic attraction is different from sexual attraction. Link to post Share on other sites
Janus the Fox Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 Aesthetics only for me, in terms of attraction or desire there isn't anything else, otherwise fetishistic. Link to post Share on other sites
WhenSummersGone Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 I've experienced all of them but Sexual Attraction happens much less than the others. Link to post Share on other sites
LeeTheGirl Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 I have definitely had more than one crush. Usually based on how the other person acted and conducted themselves. I usually ravitated toward the quirky, funny ones. Not that it's ever worked out, lol. Link to post Share on other sites
AnomalyEternal Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 I have only ever experienced aesthetic attraction. I can appreciate people's appearance, but I've just never gone any further than liking how they look. I've never had a squish or a crush and I've never felt romantic, sensual or sexual attraction. Link to post Share on other sites
Zash Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Aesthetic attraction only for me... I have looked at someone and thought, "Man, she is pretty." in the exact same way I have looked at a glorious sunrise. Link to post Share on other sites
ThaHoward Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 I would say crushes often are acted upon. When they are not acted upon it is because the one who are having the crush fears to be rejected. But people experience crushes so that they will engage in relationships. That is the whole point behond crushes. But I've experienced romantic attraction a few times, and I consider crush to be a type of romantic attraction. So these two. As for squishes I have sure wanted to be friends with someone, but I don't consider that a form of attraction at all. Link to post Share on other sites
Lia Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 Moved from Asexual Q&A to CensusLiaAdministrator Link to post Share on other sites
LaMaestra Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 I voted 'aesthetic', 'crush' and 'squish'. I have to admit I have been attracted to men purely on their looks. On the crush front, I had the usual teenage crushes in my youth but had they taken me up on them I would have channelled my inner Pink Floyd and 'run like hell'. On the squish front, I have been attracted for the past 34 years to someone, namely my avatar man. I started liking him purely for his looks but having heard his music, I genuinely got into it and became a fan. Since he has been happily married for the past 31 years, I know he will never be 'mine' but I would love to be his friend and have a brother/sister relationship with him. Link to post Share on other sites
Ziggy_G Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 I have a crush right now. At least its what I call a crush. I'm totally smitten over someone I just met and I can't stop smiling. I know I'm never going to see them again, but part of me really wants to. The rest of me doesn't want to because its more pure and magical this way, without the painful relationship, dealing with feelings that dont match up or alternatively finding out he's not as great as I though he was, part of life. No this was just the awesome first bit, when you meet someone who looks so lovely and figure out that maybe, probably..they like you two. And then your all happy and blissful and giggly inside. fun times x Link to post Share on other sites
Ehsexual Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 I'm not entirely on-board with the sensual or aesthetic "attraction" terms, but as long as we can distinguish attraction from arousal it's okay hah. I don't believe in romance but I could have a casually physical platonic relationship with a woman, ie: no more than kissing, cuddling.One thing I find weird though is I always thought of "crush" as kind of like a kid's word. I've used the word when talking about a really nice teacher I have, I'm fascinated by how nice she is and I said "I have a crush on her". But then I came here and I realized it's more of a squish. Personally though, I think "squish" sounds sexual because it's like, a wet sticky onomatopoeia just like sex sounds. Crush is a dry-sounding word, like stepping on a piece of chalk. It just has this totally platonic sound to me and I guess if I had made up the words they would be reversed hahah. But I always have something to say about semantics (#EnglishMajorProblems) hahah Link to post Share on other sites
cavyX Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 Romantic, crush, squish :) Link to post Share on other sites
kassafrass Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 it was because of the different types of attraction that i was confused about my asexuality for a while... i fall under romantic, crushes, but also aesthetic attraction (i love art love to draw and paint so i really like the human body, the way it looks/moves/is/changes, but in a very non sexual way.) it's weird because i find most everyone aesthetically attractive but i get very few crushes and am romantically attracted to very few people. Link to post Share on other sites
cannibalsforhire Posted April 17, 2014 Share Posted April 17, 2014 Checked all but sexual! Link to post Share on other sites
FFXIVMithra Posted April 17, 2014 Share Posted April 17, 2014 Aesthetic Attraction for sure. I don't like physical contact of any sort, but I love deep conversations and getting to know who someone really is. Link to post Share on other sites
Squirrel Combat Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 5 out of 6, baby! Guess which one I didn't check off? ;) Link to post Share on other sites
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