But the normal woman experiences
no corresponding cult for the beauty of man. The perfection of the body of
man is not behind that of woman in beauty, but the study of it only
appeals to the artist or the aesthetician; it arouses sexual enthusiasm
almost exclusively in the male sexual invert. Whatever may be the case
among animals or even among savages, in civilization the man is most
successful with women is not the most handsome man, and may be the
reverse of handsome.[169] The maiden, according to the old saying, who has
to choose between Adonis and Hercules, will turn to Hercules.
A correspondent writes: "Men are generally attracted in the first
instance by a woman's beauty, either of face or figure.
Frequently this is the highest form of love they are capable of.
Personally, my own love is always prompted by this. In the case
of my wife there was certainly a leaven of friendship and moral
sympathies but these alone would never have been translated into
love had she not been young and good-looking. Moreover, I have
felt intense passion for other women, in my relations with whom
the elements of moral or mental sympathy have not entered.
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