Very interesting discussion. That said, men as a class are not known historically for their depth of analysis when it comes to picking mates. Given the choice between a swimsuit model and an Oxford PhD who is brilliant, hilarious, a good personality match, and kindhearted, the average male--at least the American ones--will pick the swimsuit girl every single time. This, when clearly, the much better long-term choice is probably the Oxford woman. In this area of life, most men are unfortunately fundamentally shallow. I was married to a model for 17 years. But she was also incredibly sweet, smart, funny, a great personality match, awesome mom, and a Christian, which was extremely important to me. The fact that she was also outwardly beautiful was just a bonus. She was strictly a long-term play for me.

I guess this is where I come to the difference between outer, physical beauty and attractiveness. I don't mean attractiveness as a synonym for beauty, I mean, what are the things that makes a person attractive? Physical appearance is only one part of it. Some physically flawless people are incredibly unattractive--we've all had the misfortune. What is it about some people who may not be the prettiest or handsomest but who somehow manage to attract the attention of lots and lots of people? What is that?