I was talking with a pal, a friend,  a compadre, the other day and we got to the question of our "types." By types I mean  general female characteristics we find ourselves attracted to naturally. Not one with a predilection towards misogyny I'll remind the lady readers out there that you are allowed to have types as well. Sorry for the disclaimer but in my experience my words often (undeservingly) incite anger.

Back to the  conversation with my bud, my amigo, my bruda: it was immediately apparent that our opinions on an attractive lady differed. Most simply, he naturally prefers blonds while I gravitate towards the brunettes/darker haired female beings. So, hypothetically, if the two of us were walking down the street and saw a pair of absolutely gorgeous girls walk by, one blond and one brown haired, my friend would doubletake the blond haired one while my eyes would follow the one with mud colored hair. I wonder why this is. Because without fail I am more attracted to the darker haired vixens that walk this planet. Does my history define which I prefer, or does Freud have an opinion on the matter? My friend's family is Italian and is filled with black haired mafiosos and olive skinned women while he himself is blond. I, on the other hand, am from a family of polychromatic haired people, myself being part of the world's 2% red haired population. (As a sidenote I find it most abhorrent when two red haired people are together in a sexual relationship as without fail they could pass as brother and sister.)

But this question of curl-colored attraction can easily be expanded into the greater question of physical attraction itself. Why do some men (sorry I must speak on behalf of the Y-chromosomed population as I only own the congruent sexual organ) find voluptuousness attractive and others prefer a slim and slender female aesthetic? Why do some pretty faces attract my attention while others fail to draw my gaze? And how much of our perception of the other sex is defined by society? Has 20 some odd years of television and cultural gobbling really brainwashed my brain to want a certain type of body? If I was born in Luxembourg would I have prize another set of female characteristics? And at this point in my life are my perceptions locked down permanently? Will blonds never appeal?

I mused to my friend that maybe it had something to do with that old stereotype that blonds are dumb, and maybe it does, maybe I've been trained so tightly that my brain actually believes that? But seriously, (not that I haven't been entirely serious up to this point, it's just an often used transitional phrase) does Freud have something to say about all this? Am I looking for a sexual partner to match my mother? Gross...