Attraction, Sexual

What Influences Sexual Attraction

Several theories attempt to explain the factors that influence sexual attraction. Social context theories focus on the proximal influences of sexual attraction, such as the social and cultural environments. According to these theories, sociocultural scripts guide people's attitudes, behaviors, and experiences with sexuality, including the factors that people perceive as sexually attractive. For example, in contemporary Western cultures, it is not viewed as acceptable to desire individuals much younger than oneself, especially those who are not yet socially considered to be adults. However, in other cultures, individuals, especially women, enter into marriages when they are in their teens. In contrast to social context theories, evolutionary theory considers the distal influences of sexual attraction, including how natural selection shaped sexual attraction in the time of the hunter-gatherers. Reproduction is an essential part of evolution; therefore, those traits that allowed hunter-gatherers to better survive and reproduce are now viewed as more sexually attractive. According to this theory, traits that signify health and fertility, such as facial symmetry and a fit body, are considered to be more sexually attractive.

Both of these theories attempt to explain why individuals find certain features, such as a beautiful face, to be more sexually attractive than other features. Social context theories consider current influences such as society and culture, allowing for differences in sexual attraction within different environments. Conversely, evolutionary theory attempts to explain the universality of sexual attraction, based on the traits that enhanced survival and reproduction during hunter-gatherer times. Despite their different approaches, both theories focus on gender differences in what is considered to be sexually attractive.

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