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Is there such a thing as aesthetic orientation?


poindexter

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I always thought aesthetic attraction was about appreciating the look of people/things, for any reason.

I don't understand how you can have an aesthetic orientation, when basically all you're doing is looking at a person and thinking "they are aesthetically pleasing". For example, even if I don't personally find Denebict Bumbercatch sexually/romantically attractive, I can appreciate that he's a good looking guy. Same goes for any individual or object.

Am I missing something? Is there more to aesthetic attraction than this?

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I don't see why not. I don't experience aesthetic attraction, but I certainly do find one of the sexes to be easier on the eyes than the other.

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I think aesthetic "appreciation" is a much better word for what actually happens when you look at someone (as opposed to aesthetic attraction). I appreciate a person's attractiveness, I am not more attracted to people I find aesthetically pleasing than I am to people who are less so, so I don't think there needs to be an "orientation" for it.

That said, if I was to stick a label on it I would be most definitely panaesthetic, so maybe it's easy for me to say there doesn't need to be an orientation. I'm not sure if everyone would identify as such; plenty of allosexuals have preferences over which gender they find more aesthetically pleasing, some find it strange when people find the same gender aesthetically pleasing, although this could be tied up in the "aesthetic appreciation = wanting sex" way of thinking. IDK.

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I was wondering about this myself. I hadn't heard of aestheticism being an orientation. Interesting...

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I never experienced aesthetic attraction, or I wasn't sure if I did. Eventually, I did start seeing it, and it became unmistakeable. And it's only directed at men. And only on some months, not others.

So yeah, I believe in an aesthetic "orientation".

I'm also convinced that ugliness is not the opposite of aesthetically pleasing. I think they're just two different things that usually don't go together.

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I certainly believe there is, I can find someone pretty or beautiful the same way I find a painting or flower beautiful.

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Asexual orientation? No, not at all . . . that just sounds like people are trying to complicate things.

In sexuality they say that they have "types." Well, I have a "type" of person I like to look like, guys and girls, for aesthetic purposes--but that's not an orientation. Is that what people mean when they're talking about sexual orientation?

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Sexual orientation refers to who you are sexually attracted too, be it a person of the same or opposite sex. However, I haven't heard of aesthetic orientation. I've heard of romae orientation, which applies to many (but not all) asexuals, but not aesthetic orientation. For me, aesthetic would go with romantic orientation, because it is still a form of attraction, and sexual and or romantic preferences influences who you find attractive.

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LittleCircusNut

I feel that there can be, as although I am romantically and sexually attracted to men, aesthetically I pay much more attention to women. When I consider a guy, aesthetics only make a passing impression soon to be replaced with the characteristics I associate most strongly with them, which can be anything from sounds to mutual friends or games we play together. When I meet a girl, I am more interested in her aesthetics, noticing the unique beauties she has, and these will remain in the mental collage I associate with her.

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Aesthetic attraction is a term used a lot on AVEN. I think this is because a lot of people come here questioning. Do I experience attraction? On what level? And so the ace community broke it down to sexual, romantic, aesthetic, and sensual attraction. It helped me figure myself out. I don't personally classify it as part of my orientation though. It's just another layer of my identity.

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Well I think pretty boys and cute girls are good-looking in about the same way I think a sunset is good-looking. And we don't have a word for thinking sunsets are pretty. So I don't think "aesthetic orientation" is a necessary concept.

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