# Is a limp a turn-off?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-limp-a-turn-off/317491
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [August 17, 2005, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-limp-a-turn-off/317491 "2005-08-17T22:09:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2012, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-limp-a-turn-off/317491/41 "2012-12-03T23:18:20Z")
> [@Broomstick](#):
>
> I married a man with a significant limp - so draw your own conclusion.
username/post, like
> [@Reloy3](#):
>
> Well, alrighty then, I believe we have concensus. Thank you all.
Well, let me be the outlier and share one of my co-workers, a nurse who knows all about anatomy and injury, who wouldn’t go near a limp, ‘or a club foot, one time I met a guy online and when he showed up IRL had a missing finger, I just got up and walked away.’ This from someone who’s carrying an extra 40#'s, gets botox and silicone lip injections. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a work friend, and a good nurse, but sheesh.
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### Author:  [@jayrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayrey)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2012, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-limp-a-turn-off/317491/42 "2012-12-03T23:56:03Z")
> [@SanVito](#):
>
> I’m going to be an outlier and say… it depends. How much of an incapacity is it? Because I enjoy doing sports, country walks, cycling holidays and so on with my partner, and I would really miss that if my partner couldn’t partake.
This. I wouldn’t not date someone with a limp just because of the limp, all other things being equal, but I, too, love long walks, bicycling, and other activities that I would like to share with a partner.
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### Author:  [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2012, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-limp-a-turn-off/317491/43 "2012-12-04T16:25:28Z")
I would not be negatively affected by someone else’s limp, so definitely not a turn off.
Missing body parts however, I definitely could not handle. I have kind of a phobia regarding detachment of my own body parts, and I can’t see that not being a constant uncomfortable reminder of this possibility. I wouldn’t mention it to the person or be mean though, since obviously I am the one with the problem.
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### Author:  [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2012, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-limp-a-turn-off/317491/44 "2012-12-04T16:31:07Z")
Does he walk with a cane? If so, the cane needs to look cool, rather than some geriatric aluminum and rubber deal. If he doesn’t have a cane, he should invest in one. It’s all about the accessories 😉
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### Author:  [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-limp-a-turn-off/317491/45 "2012-12-04T16:59:51Z")
A limp is not a turn-off. It often can’t be helped.
A turn-off, you say? You wanna know what a real turn-off is? Well, let me tell ya:
My neighbor’s son, who is in his 60s, wears the same outfit every day, does not smell very good, has no social graces, is lazy as hell, and to top it off, he has a HUGE inguinal (groin) hernia the size of a basketball. His mother made him a custom pair of pants that would fit over it but you can still see it, swinging along halfway down between his legs, when he walks. The fact that he’s swaybacked does not help. He has had it for decades but refuses to get it fixed because he doesn’t believe in doctors.
His and his mom just can’t figure out why he can’t find himself a girlfriend.
Um…yeah.
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### Author:  [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2012, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-limp-a-turn-off/317491/46 "2012-12-06T22:04:16Z")
My first love walked with a limp, due to having had half of his left foot amputated. Didn’t make a difference to me and, he had so many girlfriends before me and after me, that I can say it didn’t cramp his style.
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### Author:  [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2012, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-limp-a-turn-off/317491/47 "2012-12-06T22:31:25Z")
> [@Dorjan](#):
>
> Does he walk with a cane? If so, the cane needs to look cool, rather than some geriatric aluminum and rubber deal. If he doesn’t have a cane, he should invest in one. It’s all about the accessories 😉
Obviously, he needs to go to the tobacco shop to get one–that’s where they keep the really bad-ass ones. 😃
For me, it can be quite attractive on a dude. There’s a certain mystery, an air of having taken a rifle ball in the hip while fighting in (Victorian!) Afghanistan or something. Will depend on overall demeanor and such.
On chicks, not so much. Not a dealbreaker or anything, but not something that’s going to be a tick in the “pro” column.
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2012, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-limp-a-turn-off/317491/48 "2012-12-07T04:20:36Z")
I sure hope not…
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### Author:  [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2012, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-limp-a-turn-off/317491/49 "2012-12-07T06:12:08Z")
I have seen a woman pick up a guy with a severe–I don’t even know what his problem was, some kind of aftereffect of past neurological trauma or something. He was slowly rehabilitating his ability to walk, and it was not so much a limp as a full-body awkwardness.
If he’s cute, it may not matter.
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### Author:  [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2012, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-limp-a-turn-off/317491/50 "2012-12-07T10:00:17Z")
> [@](#):
>
> The women who don’t want to go out with him because he limps are probably shallow and not worth dating, anyway.
This. Although when it seems like everyone is shallow it’s really hard.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2012, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-limp-a-turn-off/317491/51 "2012-12-07T15:58:39Z")
Geez, whatever happened to the good old-fashioned pity fuck? If I had a pronounced limp, I’d ham it up around the ladies.
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### Author:  [@Ed\_1956](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_1956)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2014, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-limp-a-turn-off/317491/52 "2014-03-02T22:22:14Z")
I totally like the way you think Papergirl :D…
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