I don't know what's wrong with picking out a particular charateristic and saying, "Oh this person has to have this...." It doesn't mean that once you meet the person, if he/she doesn't posess that characteristic that you'd necessarily chuck the person out of the realm of your possibilities.

For example, when it comes to physical attractiveness of a man, hair is an important thing to me. I am a big fan of James Dean and Elvis and I just love that 50's-ish hair that they had going on. My husband has that kind of hair. That was a plus for me. Grant it, before I met my husband I had dated two completely bald guys because we connected intellectually and they were cool to hang out with.

I would ditch someone because their physical looks didn't exactly match my criteria, but if we are having a conversation about physical attractiveness, then I would say it is very important to me. If I am going to pick someone as a mate than means I am going to be sexual with them-- therefore, I want to be attracted to that person physically.

In the past I have dated people have I have been very physically attracted to, but found no other connections, and thus ended the relationships. Attraction is important to me but I would never stay in a relationship with an %#@&#! just because he's hot.