Monsters, Men, and Science

The Scien ce of Attraction and Character Design

Because the whole women are far more into monsters than actual men thing has been dominating my various feeds, it’s been on my mind. Why? Why does it seem that way? Much of the time, these monsters are not intentionally intended to be attractive in any way, but repulsive. Like. Vampires.

I figured it out, and it’s not what you think. But is 100% a face palm moment. Bear with me.

I watch a lot of documentaries about a variety of subjects. Just about anything that interests me even a little. Yesterday, it was this documentary called: They Called Him Mostly Harmless about an unidentified man who died on the Appalachian Trail, hiking, with a backpack full of food and supplies. He was emaciated and the mystery is exactly what happened to him and who is he? One of the women they interviewed who had talked to him giggled and said: He was cute. And I’m going: Yeah. Ridiculous because he’s so skinny.

That brought to mind: Argh. I saw yet another character design of a male character that I really liked and couldn’t get out of my mind, even though there was nothing at all UNIQUE about it. Nothing.

I began thinking more on that, and how I have a lot of friends who like, for the lack of a better word, gaunt men. Skinny, wiry, not heavily muscled, angular. Looks like they’ve been through something. Not what we’re told is the ideal, which is muscular and healthily chunky.

This morning, I popped it into a search engine: Science behind attraction (A documentary I’d watched once) and Why do some women like gaunt men? It came back with, genetics, of course. Genetically predisposed to see this build as acceptable, especially if strong, because muscle mass doesn’t equal strength. Women look for markers like angular features, slender builds, to signify less aggression and approachability.

Okay. That describes bishounen (pretty boys) and…just about every single villain/monster in just about any media. You can throw a rock and not miss. Loki and the Joker pop immediately into mind. You get where I’m going immediately: It’s not what they are. It’s the build and base that women find attractive. But…there’s more.

I’ve been through character design work repeatedly with a focus on shapes having meaning. Every single comic book character and animated character is built on the same basic templates. It’s been that way for decades. It’s acceptable to tell a person immediately if a character is good or bad based on their shapes. Rounded, robust = good. Pointed, thin, and angular=bad.

Eventually, you come up with all of the villains are generally of one build and the heroes of another. It’s been coded into us to view it this way…but uh…a lot of us women really like the villain designs simply because they’re visually appealing, not because they’re good people. It extends to monsters, who tend to have similar shapes, especially if there’s a human version. So again, no, it’s not that women prefer monsters. Women just want some other build than the standard that’s been set…by men who had no idea women found that attractive as they saw it as weak/evil in appearance.

Dang Saja boys are so darn cute.

And this is apparently why the majority of my male characters are of this build and the bad guys tend to have muscular, chunkier builds. Not that I don’t find both attractive. One’s just far more frequently available than the other.