Furries or feet? We want to know what turns you on!

Have you ever wondered why Leonardo DiCaprio only dates women under 25? Or what Sir Mix-a-Lot and his many fans like? (It’s big butts and he cannot lie.) Or how people on the Netflix show Love Is Blind can feel attracted to a person to the point of pursuing a marriage, before ever seeing one another’s physical appearances? These examples simply scratch the surface of the many potential partner characteristics (in this case; age, physical appearance, and emotional connection) that may be deemed sexually arousing, yet the list does not end here. Sexual arousal is a complex physiological and psychological phenomenon that crosses cultures worldwide (Zuckerman, 1971). Commonly conceptualized as feeling horny or turned on, sexual arousal is subjective and can be initiated by an unlimited number of factors. For a broad phenomenon experienced by the masses, little is known about what specific kinds of stimuli tend to influence sexual attractiveness in individuals across genders and cultures, especially in the context of a potential sexual partner’s or partners’ characteristics. The little information that is known exists adjacent to the sexual attraction literature in the disciplines of evolutionary psychology and social psychology (Barber 1995; Waynforth, 2001; Wiederman, 2005; Hugil, Fink & Neave, 2010). In each, experiences of sexual pleasure and characteristics that are considered sexy are not explored. This is especially true in the case of partner characteristics. Additionally, evolutionary and social psychological perspectives are very binary gendered and describe sexual attraction as dependent upon assigned sex at birth, thus excluding the experiences of gender diverse individuals completely. Although these literatures are limited to sexual attraction and do not touch the topic of sexual turn ons, they are useful in outlining the massive gaps where further research is necessary.

Evolutionary Psychological Perspectives

What evolutionary psychology perspectives do inform us on is limited, as it reduces individuals to their physical and reproductive characteristics while ignoring facets of identity and pleasure, also ignoring the diverse sexual experiences across all humanity. For instance, attractiveness, described as mate value, is said to be dependent on an individual’s sex at birth, their primary and secondary physical sexual characteristics, and indicators of physical health (Waynforth, 2001). Women’s mate value is said to be dependent on cues (of health, fertility, etc.) conveyed by their physical appearance, whereas men’s mate value is said to be reliant on their status (i.e., career, power/perceived place in society) and access to economic resources (Waynforth, 2001). This perspective is not comprehensive, as it argues that cisgender men and women can only be seen as sexually attractive to partners through aligning with specific characteristics in various biological and social domains, which neglects the complexities of human sexual identity, sexual preference, sexual desire/interest, pleasure, fantasy, and sexual attraction. Evolutionary psychology also excludes the experiences of gender diverse individuals, indicating that inclusive scientific investigation into components of human sexual attraction is critical for a more comprehensive understanding of what makes individuals sexually attractive.

Social Psychological Perspectives

Social psychology outlines the ways in which potential sexual partners are observed through a cultural lens. Social scripts are essentially cultural guidelines that inform us how to behave in a wide range of environments (Wiederman, 2005). In sexual environments, unspoken sexual scripts are enacted to guide each individual on how to behave, yet these scripts are highly gendered (Wiederman, 2005). Gender roles often encourage men to be explorative and assertive in their sexuality, whereas women often are expected to exhibit restraint and control (Wiederman, 2005). This stems from different reproductive responsibilities experienced by women and men, in that the energy investment in women is much larger than in men when producing offspring (Wiederman, 2005). Of course, these reproductive responsibilities are outdated and rudimentary today. Deviating from these gender norms is often associated with negative social/societal connotations, especially in the case of women being more sexually liberal. Although informative, social scripts have changed drastically in the last century. A now commonly accepted method of exploring one’s sexuality is hookup culture, which encompasses an entirely different set of sexual rules (Garcia, Reiber & Merriwether, 2012). Hookups are defined as uncommitted sexual encounters absent of any type of romantic connection. These types of interactions are centered around sexual pleasure, yet we do not yet understand what arousal characteristics conveyed by potential partners drives an individual to engage sexually in the context of hookups.

Overall, a massive gap in research exists of our understanding of what partner characteristics are considered sexually arousing. Filling in this gap and understanding what partner characteristics turn people on outside the lenses of evolutionary and social psychology, would provide for a comprehensive and contemporary conceptualization of attraction. In hopes of gaining this comprehensive and contemporary perspective, a team of researchers in the Sexual Health Research Lab at Queens University have launched a novel study investigating what turns people on. If you are 18 years of age or older, fluent in English, and feel comfortable answering questions related to sexuality and sexual desire, please consider participating in this research. You can expect to spend 30-45 minutes filling out an online survey and will have the opportunity to participate in a prize draw! Who knew research could be so sexy?! https://queensu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0rozACaFhz9J5ae

Rebecca Star, 4th Year BAH Psychology, Queen’s University 

References

Garcia, J. R., Reiber, C., Massey, S. G., & Merriwether, A. M. (2012). Sexual Hookup Culture:   A Review. Review of General Psychology, 16(2), 161–176.         https://doi.org/10.1037/a0027911

Hugill, N., Fink, B., & Neave, N. (2010). The Role of Human Body Movements in Mate Selection. Evolutionary Psychology, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/147470491000800107

Waynforth, D. Mate choice trade-offs and women’s preference for physically attractive    men. Hum Nat 12, 207–219 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-001-1007-9

Wiederman, M. W. (2005). The Gendered Nature of Sexual Scripts. The Family Journal, 13(4),   496–502. https://doi.org/10.1177/1066480705278729

Zuckerman, M. (1971). Physiological measures of sexual arousal in the human. Psychological     Bulletin, 75(5), 297–329. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0030923