Is the aesthetic attraction you feel related to gender?

[CharmVif3075]

I have aesthetic 'appreciation' for men and women and basically everyone and everything, like a painting, as you said.

I think it's normal though. People are beautiful, it's a fact, and it doesn't have anything to do with gender or even your own sexual/romantic/aesthetic orientation.

but I've only felt aesthetic 'attraction' for men, and I do think it's different too. Not easy to point out what's different. And it's not even easy to know when you're aesthetically attracted to someone or romantically attracted to someone because they look good. Does that make any sense?

[Francoise Wang]

I have aesthetic 'appreciation' for men and women and basically everyone and everything, like a painting, as you said.

I think it's normal though. People are beautiful, it's a fact, and it doesn't have anything to do with gender or even your own sexual/romantic/aesthetic orientation.

but I've only felt aesthetic 'attraction' for men, and I do think it's different too. Not easy to point out what's different. And it's not even easy to know when you're aesthetically attracted to someone or romantically attracted to someone because they look good. Does that make any sense?

Yes, that's exactly the same way as I feel.

The aesthetic "attraction" I feel is only towards the gender I'm romantically attracted to, so basically aesthetic attraction and romantic attraction go hand in hand to me (Although I can have aesthetic "appreciation" for everyone and everything). It's also very hard to differentiate between aesthetic attraction and "romantic attraction triggered by people's appearance (is this normal?)" for me. But some people feel that aesthetic "attraction" (also it seems for some people, it's hard to differentiate between aesthetic "attraction" and aesthetic "appreciation"?) is totally not related to romantic attraction, that's very different from my experiences, so I've been confused for a while (well, I think everybody feels different, so it's normal).

[Snao Cone]

I find all genders aesthetically attractive. Since I'm moderately feminine, I admire aesthetics that are a bit more feminine than me for being better at femininity, but not going so far as to be an over-the-top trope. That's admiration as a peer. For masculine genders, since I have less in common with these people, aesthetic attraction carries a different form. I'm aro hetero grey-ace, so sometimes the attraction wades into sexual territory, but other times it's just the aesthetic principles of the matter.

It's pretty evident to me that how the aesthetics of various gender characteristics draw me in has been shaped by heteronormative acceptability as a cisgender straight woman. It's entirely acceptable for me to recognize beauty in other women in a certain way, and I'm expected to acknowledge the attraction of men in a different way. Even when masculine attractiveness isn't sexual to me, it still feels distinct from feminine attractiveness. And my aromanticism has helped make my aesthetic attraction to women a tool of bonding and friendship, while with men it largely makes no emotional difference.

[Guest]

I definitely find women/female bodies a lot prettier/more aesthetically pleasing, on average, than men/male bodies. That's especially true when naked - while there sure are a bunch of men who I find very pleasant on the eyes (Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan are rather famous examples, and no I don't have a James Bond fetish :P), they definitely have to keep their pants on - the male downstairs equipment is just revoltingly ugly; whereas women who don't have pants on still look pretty to me. "Internal plumbing" looks a lot more... orderly.

[SithLord]

My view of aesthetic attraction is pretty narrow, not really gendered, and VERY socially constructed.

I like looking at women who have boobs that aren't flat but not giant watermelons, skin unmarked by scars, and a fairly skinny figure. But I like looking at men that don't have facial hair (or very little at most), some muscle but not too much, have decent skin similarly unmarked or barely marked with a scar or two, and are skinny/fit (no excess fat like beer bellies).

I do like looking at women more in general but again count that as socially constructed.

I can't tell you percentage-wise how much I'm aesthetically attracted to either, but I know I'm bi-aesthetic and not pan-aesthetic since I don't really feel that bit of attraction towards people who don't fit clearly as a man or woman. Like women who are cross-dressing as men can be attractive to me if I see them as women, but if I see them as men it "turns me off" aesthetically. The same for swapped sexes.

[animanova]

Kind of more preferenced toward men, but that's only by a miniscule amount that happens to be evening out. I really can't say, because there are traits I find attractive from both genders which makes it hard to choose. It's more of the personality of someone for me, and looks are just a bonus.

[Conscientious Ghost]

Attraction to me is a spark of interest or desire to someone or something. Although I experience neither romantic attraction nor sexual attraction, aesthetic attraction often clicks to me. It ranges from masculine women, feminine men, and androgynous people. I'm an aesthetic mess, ha ha.

[whiteblankpage]

Strictly Aesthetically speaking, it goes both ways. I appreciate the female form as well as the male form.

Strictly romantically speaking, I am heterolithromantic, so I only feel romantic attraction to men

[C8H7N3O2]

In some cases but not exclusively. My attraction is based on a lot of things, and aesthetics win out over gender.

[******]

Athough I am generally very attracted to femininity and women aesthetically, at times I can also be aesthetically attracted to a male as well. I think my attractoin often has to do more with the individual themself rather than their biological sex or gender.

[TooOldForThis]

I guess for me it really is the same as for a painting. The gender of a person doesn't make any difference at all, and neither does their actually being a real living person. Wax sculptures, portraits, or (creepy as it sounds) dead people can be aesthetically attractive for me as well, but that is just because there doesn't seem to be a line between people and other things for me, in terms of aesthetics. So, I can think some lady is pretty, but it's exactly the same thought process as for my thinking that some flower is pretty. It has nothing to do with whether I actually like the lady in question, or whether I'm romantically attracted to her, or anything else.

That said, just as I tend to like blue flowers better than yellow ones, there are some human features which I tend to prefer to others - and some of those features tend to appear more often in one gender than others. For example, I like large noses, and statistically speaking that feature is more likely to appear in men than in women or non-binary types. But if a lady or an androgyne or whoever has a big nose, I like it just as much as (and no more than) I would were it on a man.

[sindi]

For me it is sort of related to gender. I can be aesthetically attracted to any gender, but I'm usually attracted to different things in males and females (hard to say about people who are neither/both/something different or inbetween, I guess it would depend on the individual).

[That asexual guy]

Mine is.

[unluckybagel]

I usually find females or androgynous people to be more attractive, but I have felt aesthetic attraction for most genders. It doesn't really have an effect on whether I am attracted to them in other ways, though

[clueingforlooks]

Personally, my aesthetic attraction is pretty close to the same for men and women. I honestly don't really know what I'm really aesthetically attracted to because it seems like such a wide range. It's sort of an appreciation for all forms I guess, I even thought for a little while that I was bisexual because of this.

[RK800]

Not really which is why I consider myself panaesthetic.

I don't always consider it 'attraction' though but rather admiration.

Everyone is so pretty, like art and it bothers me that I can't tell someone that without them taking it the wrong way.

[Perseus]

I am more aesthetically attracted to men, but I can find anyone beautiful.

[CNGB]

I am gray-heteromantic and asexual, and I find mostly everyone aesthetically pleasing regardless of gender, though I have noticed that for males I'm attracted to more of their bodies and/or how they hold themselves, and with women for their clothes--but those things intersect all the time.

[AlexPeyton]

I'm aromantic asexual and I feel aesthetic attraction towards most genders, but females more often.

[Howard]

I fond aesthetic attraction different than romantic attraction. From what I expérience, I feel aesthetic attraction when I feel like drawing someone whereas romantic attraction is about wanting a relationship with. I find pleasing high fantasy and superhero art where differences between genders are accentuated. There is the odd muscular amazon or frail young wizard,but it's rather rare.

[Vega91]

It's not related to gender, so I guess I'm panaesthetic (?) too. I used to look more at men, but that was back before I knew what asexuality was an identified as straight. Nowadays I think I may look at women more, but it's hard to say. Maybe I just feel more comfortable around women in general.

[Asexy Void]

Hmm... I'm polyromantic, but I find that even the people that I'm not romantically attracted to are aesthetically pleasing. ^^

[radishjarrah]

Personally, I'm more aesthetically attracted to women, but occasionally I see the odd guy who I am attracted to.

[ozzythefabulous]

I identify as pan because my aesthetic attraction isn't affected at all by gender