anti-sexy poll: Post your nominees

In My Humble Opinion
1

I have this philosophy of sorts. I call it “anti-sexy.” Note: This is based on physical characteristics alone. This all about “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Think of it as body art. I think what’s inside is just as important, if not more, but that’s not what this thread is about. Read on and see if you have encountered this.

What is anti-sexy? Well, one of two things:
li A person who is so extremely physically attractive that they become inexplicably unappealing.[/li]li A person who is so physically un-attractive that they become inexplicably appealing.[/li]li Hi Opal (gratuity)[/li]
I know it is bizarre, and oxymoron, but surely it has happened to you, male or female. Here are some of my nominees…

Type A: Sandra Bullock… This woman about visually blows me away whenever I watch her on screen. I just saw Miss Congeniality, and the scene where she walks in slo-mo out of the airplane hangar after her rigourous makeover about sent me flying back into the rear rows of the theater. She is so damn beautiful it is scary. Another example is Jennifer Lopez.

Type B: Faruzia Balk (The Craft) This chick is scary to look at in all of her movies. She isn’t “ugly” but looks like a real life Tuesday Addams. Creepy, kooky, ookie, spooky. Shudder… Disturbing thoughts come to mind when I think of her. Still, something about her is hauntingly erotic and magnetic. Another type B is Juliette Lewis, IMHO.

Anyone else have any anti-sexy candidates? Post your nominees.

2

Type B: Me.

Hey, someone had to get depressive in here! Might as well be the King!

3

I think I understand your concept of Type A, but can’t think of any examples offhand.

The Type B who instantly popped into my head was Sandra Bernhard. Her facial features are asymmetric; her nose is outsized; and yet somehow, I can’t take my eyes off her. I find her looks fascinating.

4

Sandra Bernhard is probably the ugliest, most digusting thing I’ve ever seen, leagues ahead of even classic ugly people like Grace Jones and Eartha Kitt. She’s talentless, obnoxious, and stupefyingly bad-looking.

5

The French have beat you to it on this concept (hey, they have to do something right occasionally;)). This applies mostly to men, from what I’ve seen, who are called “beaux-laids”, literally “handsome-uglies”. I guess this would explain Gerard Depardieu, who to me is more just plain ‘laid’.

As for a ‘belle-laide’, well, hmmm… Emily Watson? Bjork? Nahhh… they’re more funny-looking than ugly.

6

I should have mentioned that “beau-laid” corresponds to your Type B.

As for type A, I’d include 90% of current Hollywood stars and supermodels: Kim Basinger, Charlize Theron, Cindy Crawford, etc. Perfection is boring; you need an imperfection or two to add character (for lack of a better term) to a face.

7

“She isn’t ‘ugly’ but looks like a real life Tuesday Addams.”

—Did you mean “Wednesday Addams,” or “Tuesday Weld?”

8

The Japanese have a word for those Type-B people, too. IIRC, they are described as possessing wabe, or “beauty of the imperfect”.

As far as Type-A women go, it’s not so much that they are so good-looking that they become “unappealing” - it’s just that sometimes it’s more gratifying to see women that you could actually TALK TO in real life. A Type-A women is capable of titillation, but it seems so far-fetched of a fantasy that you never really invest anything emotionally in the concept. B’s display the requisite level of vulnerability, while A’s never do.

(This is not the easieat thing in the world to precisely explain)

Personally, I see women possessing wabe all the time in everyday life that fit MSK’s Type-B description to a T. Those Type-A “too-good-looking” women are also not uncommon.

For celebrities, there are quite a few notable A’s & B’s:

(A) - Julia Roberts (kinda), Jennifer Lopez, Neve Campbell, Cameron Diaz, Laura Flynn Boyle, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Uma Thurman, Darryl Hannah, Heather Graham, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Mira Sorvino, Jennifer Anniston.

(B) - For me, Sandra Bullock is flawed enough to belong here, rather than A. Others include Hillary Swank, Minnie Driver (! for me), Lili Taylor, Jeanene(sp?) Garofalo, Sarah Jessica Parker, Allyson Hanigan (the Band-Camp girl from American Pie), Lisa Kudrow, Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond), Linda Cardellini (Lindsay on Freaks & Geeks).

For comparison:

Jane Leeves - looks like an A, yet seems accessible - must be the accent. Jane Seymour & Helena Bonham-Carter benefits similarly.

Fran Drescher & Rosie Perez are great-looking women, but the voices <shudder>…

Cindy Crawford, Christine Applegate - Too good looking for “B’s” - yet once I found out how intelligent and “nerdy” they really were, these beauties were whisked off of the “A” list. Both are great girls - Richard Gere screwed the pooch.

Rhea Perlman, KD Lang - God bless 'em … don’t even nearly qualify for B’s in my book.

9

I don’t get why you say Sandra Bullock is a type A and then say she’s hot. Which is it?

10

Joan Cusak has a new show.“What About Joan” after Dharma& Greg. She is not a Hollywood beauty, but the story seems natural even though a male model type proposes to her.

11

What was the point of your post, dantheman? Are you saying MHO is wrong?

Joan Cusack’s a definite Type B. Another one I just thought of is Amanda Plummer. There’s no reason at all I should find her attractive, yet I do.

More Type A’s? Lemme think…how about Catherine Zeta Jones? So beautiful she’s just icky. Nancy Kerrigan maybe.

12

D’oh! You’re right! I meant Wednesday Addams. (expletives deleted) :eek:

13

Oh no, not in the leas, Fiver. Opinions can’t be wrong. I just find her as icky as sludge. :slight_smile: YMMV!

14

As aforementioned, this whole concept is oxymoron.

Sandra Bullock is so attractive that it is a turn off, IMHO. She overflows with “the-girl-next-door” image. Her attractiveness almost feels wrong, like being attracted to your own sister. I hope this clarifies.

15

I don’t know which group Michael Jackson and Cher should belong to, but there’s definitely something wrong about the way they look.

16

We need some boys in this thread. . .
I think Joan’s brother John Cusak is a perfect example of the type A–he’s so good looking that he’s just kinda boring.
And Johnny Rotten back in the day is a B all the way–so ugly and acne-scarred with that awful hair and mangled body and those horrible teeth. I’ll love him forever.

17

You’re the heterosexual female, not me, ThisYearsGirl, but have you ever seen John Cusack’s teeth? I’d have thought they’d disqualify him from the “too good-looking” category. He has flaws.

18

I wouldn’t say an oxymoron - this concept just demonstrates how complex attraction & sexuality really are.

See here - we feel completely different about Sandra, yet we BOTH understand the “anti-sexy” concept. Very complicated…

You know what? Sandra is my sisters name! By sheer coincidence.

BTW, MSK, great topic!

19

Type A: Cindy Crawford, or, frankly, any other ‘Supermodel’ type. They’re just…so…overdone…unnatural.

Type B: Damn, this is a hard one… I’ll get back to you. I know there’s a few, but I can’t think of them offhand.

(And bordelond, how can you put Allison Hannigan in that list? She’s just normal sexy, neither type-a, nor type-b.)

20

Well…looking back at MagicSilverKey’s definition of what B is, maybe I don’t have the same thing in mind as MSK did. MSK used the word unattractive explicitly - and unattractive is one thing that Allyson Hannigan is not.

However, she is not unequivocally attractive - some men may not get much from her. She is not classically beautiful. You’ll never see her doing Revlon ads. Hannigan’s look is attractive, but quirky, and probably not widely accepted as sexy. So IMHO, that qualifies her - and the rest of my B list - as B’s.

My B’s are just women that are “sleepers” -you have to look at them awhile to appreciate them. You have to hear 'em talk, or see 'em move … or something. A delayed reaction, if you will.

Also, Tengu - this is basically just two guys disagreeing on the same girl. Happens every day…right? If Hannigan is a true-blue babe to you, then hey! More power to you!

But I know that if Allyson H were standing next to Sara Michelle Geller in a crowded bar, Geller would be the one with more phone numbers at the end of the night. AH would get hers - but a hot blonde, even a perceived Ice Queen, would get even more attention.