How the heck is attractive defined?

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How the heck is "attractive" defined? I never understood how people define someone as attractive and for what reasons. All I can figure is what is considered "attractive" is very broad. Does anyone here understand the ridiculously vague 1-10 rating system? I don't get how you can "assign" someone a number based on how "attractive" they look. If all aspies/auties understood this, or could find an explanation maybe we could all learn how to interpret comments we get (when & if) based on how you look.

p.s. I've been told to always respond with "thank you" even to a questionable compliment b/c if it was meant as a insult, it supposedly make the other person "look like an a**" if they'd try to correct the misinterpretation. Yet another thing that doesn't really make sense to me .

The 1-10 rating system always rankled me. I don't like it when people rate other human beings like they were a product.
I think attractiveness is relative to each person.

It isn't defined. It is purely subjective. The 0 -10 system may as well be used to define the sound of architecture.

If it helps, I define "attractive" simply on the basis on how I feel for someone. Attractive people are those who I feel inclined to have sex with, end of story.

There's no straightforward interpretation of the numbers, though it's safe to say that if someone thinks you're a "9" or a "10" you're doing well.

I've seen this done quite effectively, but as a general rule if you don't understand the humour or intention of a joke or a comeback you should not mimic it yourself in conversation.

The 1-10 scale is one very small aspect and one that is based solely on looks. There is much more than looks that makes someone attractive. I feel personality kicks in well over the 50% range while looks should only be around 10%. To me, someone with a very appealing, awesome personality is very attractive and they don't have to be gorgeous looking; that's just setting the standards too high. At the same time, someone who is very, very physically appealing can be a very ugly person if they have that awful, superficial personality that many vain people have, remember that.

Each to their own imo. Attractive to me is ugly to someone else and vice versa.

When a lot of men think of "attractive" they think of a slender body with long hair and a well proportioned face.

But then again thats all superficial stuff. I think peoples personalities make them attractive.. to look at also.

it honestly varies from person to person. I'm not just saying that in an 'everyone is special' kind of way, it honestly does.

The 1-10 rating is used by adolescent males and people with the brains of adolescent males. It's not worth bothering about.



Good advice. Stick by it. Basically, if someone can't get their point across, it makes them look foolish. Bonus points if you smile sweetly at the same time

How the heck is attractive defined?

Attractiveness is the expedient ratio between want and need. The motivator of desire.
Experiences (or lack thereof) from the past and present are the denominator.
The sum is between the fantasy and reality of ones own willingness.

IMO

To me, everyone has there own way of defining attractive, and therefore is attracted to different types of people.

Its easy to tell when someone is attractive, but its really hard to define it. Basically, you are attractive to someone if you have physical attributes that the other person desires.

In general, clear skin, facial symmetry, hair style and facial perfection add up to a person's physical attractiveness. Body type is also very important.

While there seems to be a lot of universal qualities of attractive people, it is also possible that one person can find you attractive and the next person finds you ugly. One day at the store, I saw this butt ugly overweight hispanic male that could easily scare the ticks of a hound dog. In his arms, was a drop dead gorgeous hispanic female. Its amazing to me that anyone would find that guy attractive, but apparently his girlfriend did.

It's pretty easy to define attractiveness by the 1-10 system. Just get a bunch of photos, sort them into 10 groups based on how good they look to you. Of course, your 9 might be my 7 and someone else's 4. And different photos could easily end up in different categories. So the system is neither accurate nor objective. But it is easy to define, even if it isn't much use.

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

I've often noticed that relatively unattractive people who are nice to me suddenly seem nice looking, and very pretty girls who act like jerks suddenly lose their appeal.

Well, if I were to generalize it...

Women seeking men:
Rich
Tall
Kind of a douchebag
Doesn't play Dungeons & Dragons in mom's basement
Can do those stupid looking bodily convulsions that people call 'dancing'

Men seeking women:
Well pronounced T & A for T & A guys
Near anorexic for the rest
Slut enough to have sex with him but not so much of a slut to have sex with all his friends, brothers, dad, etc.
Not too hairy

Men seeking men:
Likes leather?
(I don't really know how this one is generally defined)

Women seeking women:
Mullet haircut?
(I don't really know how this one is generally defined, either)

^ Poetically Correct

Symmetry, I believe. The more symmetrical someone is, the more attractive we find them.

It's silly, really, because one person's 10 is another's 2, and so on. Symmetry is a good indicator of the percentage of population that would find a person attractive, physically, but tastes are quite individual.

I think rating attraction and looks are two very different things. You can be very attracted to someone even if they aren't physically what you would usually consider beautiful.

I guess if you're objective enough while quantifying looks alone then you can acknowledge that someone is better looking than another person etc (in your opinion) and scale things accordingly. Girls I know seem to be better at this than men, I think they are more willing to say whether a member of the same sex is good looking, and taking attraction out of the loop.

Attraction alters things, personality and looks affect attraction, but I don't think you can objectively score how attractive someone is. For example if you meet someone you are crazy about would they score 10 on the attraction score? Would everyone else you knew drop down to 0? What about when you start getting over them or meet someone else?

In short, I think that the 1-10 rating system is something that people use in a lighthearted manner, not as an actual serious system for applying values to people (At least no with people I've met).

With regards to comments and compliments then someone can think you are good looking and be attracted to you, think you are good looking and not be attracted to you, think you are average looking and be attracted to you or find you average looking and not be attracted to you. If they think you're ugly they're not looking hard enough. I'd suggest if the compliment is along the lines of looking good then the reply is thank you, but if they say you are looking attractive then that might mean they are interested in you; the reply is still thank you.