SEX APPEAL: DO YOU HAVE IT?
No matter which branch of science you subscribe to, we have it on good authority that sexual attraction comes down to a primal human quest: to reproduce and nurture healthy offspring. Levels of attractiveness, and what both men and women consider attractive in each other, appear to be a function of both evolution and psychology.
Of course, every man and woman has their unique taste, but an overwhelming number of studies show that our biological need to procreate leads most of us to pick mates who have certain physical traits over those who don’t. These physical characteristics stimulate the brain’s hypothalamus, leading to elevated heart rate, perspiration and feelings of sexual arousal.
It is also a chemical state, with six or seven hormones at play. ‘Being on drugs is like falling in love (or vice versa),’ says Prof Rob Brooks, Professor of Evolutionary Biology at the University of NSW and author of Sex, Genes and Rock ‘n’ Roll: How Evolution Has
