# Let's list persons who are beautiful but not sexy. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 1, 2012, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-persons-who-are-beautiful-but-not-sexy/626936 "2012-07-01T20:00:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2012, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-persons-who-are-beautiful-but-not-sexy/626936/21 "2012-07-01T23:02:17Z")
For the male types, I’d have to say Orlando Bloom. I mean, I’d quite like a pet one, but for decorative purposes only. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2012, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-persons-who-are-beautiful-but-not-sexy/626936/22 "2012-07-01T23:28:17Z")
I always thought Brooke Shields had an unearthly beauty in her younger years, but wasn’t ever what I’d call sexy. However, now that she’s older and (seems to be) more comfortable in her own skin, wow… that sexy switch has flipped! Keira Knightley and Natalie Portman fall into the beautiful, but not sexy category these days. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2012, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-persons-who-are-beautiful-but-not-sexy/626936/23 "2012-07-01T23:52:26Z")
Elijah Wood = beautiful but not sexy ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-persons-who-are-beautiful-but-not-sexy/626936/24 "2012-07-02T00:02:06Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > You think all men are beautiful? I like to look for the inner beauty that’s inside of everyone. That or I should have put more thought into my post. What I meant was that every man falls into the “not sexy” category for me. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-persons-who-are-beautiful-but-not-sexy/626936/25 "2012-07-02T00:04:46Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Keira Knightley and Natalie Portman fall into the beautiful, but not sexy category these days. As I wrote above, there was a long time I didn’t find Portman particularly sexy. But I always thought Knightley was sexy. Which is weird because I recognize how similar the two women look to each other. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-persons-who-are-beautiful-but-not-sexy/626936/26 "2012-07-02T00:24:28Z")
I am currently rewatching all of _Star Trek: TNG_, which I first watched in its initial run when I was a teenager. I am reminded that I’ve always thought that Gates McFadden (Dr. Beverly Crusher) was very beautiful, but not sexy at all. Marina Sirtis, on the other hand, makes my pants go crazy. ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-persons-who-are-beautiful-but-not-sexy/626936/27 "2012-07-02T01:20:09Z")
For me, Hugh Jackman. (Sorry, **Eve.** ) He’s a perfect specimen of manliness and seems like an all around swell guy, but… nothing. Wouldn’t mine having a beer with him, though. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-persons-who-are-beautiful-but-not-sexy/626936/28 "2012-07-02T01:23:10Z")
Watching Fringe, I was always impressed by how little sex appeal [Anna Torv](https://www.google.com/search?num=10&hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&q=anna+torv&oq=anna+torv&gs_l=img.3..0l10.699.2695.0.3198.9.7.0.2.2.0.182.820.1j6.7.0...0.0.CI1PymaYZTQ&biw=1603&bih=1115&sei=5ffwT83MC8iprQH915CPAg) has, for being a very beautiful woman. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-persons-who-are-beautiful-but-not-sexy/626936/29 "2012-07-02T03:44:20Z")
To me the best example of high beauty/low sex appeal is Jennifer Aniston. She just doesn’t do it for me. Ditto for Emily Deschanel (Zooey is hot, though), When I was growing up, Blair and Jo on The Facts Of Life were supposed to be hotties, but they left me cold. Tootie was the only one on that show with any sex appeal at all. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-persons-who-are-beautiful-but-not-sexy/626936/30 "2012-07-02T08:28:10Z")
> [@JimmyFlair](#): > > January Jones? Oooh, yes. Just rewatched X-Men: First Class and yes, even in lingerie, no sexy. ETA: So far, it looks like it’s often the Nordic Ice Princess type that gets the beautiful-not-sexy label, or is that just me? ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-persons-who-are-beautiful-but-not-sexy/626936/31 "2012-07-02T10:44:17Z")
Jodie Foster. ---
**Author:** ![GoodOmens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@GoodOmens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOmens)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-persons-who-are-beautiful-but-not-sexy/626936/32 "2012-07-02T11:21:26Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Hilary Swank I gotta say, I see her as totally the opposite. Hilary is kind of the classic butterface (though she has a really nice smile)…but that body is unreal! Someone mentioned January Jones, and I think she’s a great example. No heat there at all. Also, and I know this will be controversial, but I have to with Charlize Theron. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-persons-who-are-beautiful-but-not-sexy/626936/33 "2012-07-02T13:06:16Z")
Beyonce Knowles for the win. They push her as sexy but you know at the end of the nite you’d get nothing but a polite handshake so as not to muss her perfect makeup. ---
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-persons-who-are-beautiful-but-not-sexy/626936/34 "2012-07-02T14:07:25Z")
Interesting, applying this to men from my hetero female POV. There are many men beautiful to look at (Matthew Bomer, Hugh Jackman, Orlando Bloom), but the more beautiful a man is, the less sexy. I’d have an easier time listing men who are not handsome or beautiful, but who are very hot. Exception: Viggo Mortesen as Aragorn. The scruffy hair and beard, the warrior role, the swordsmanship, made him very hot. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-persons-who-are-beautiful-but-not-sexy/626936/35 "2012-07-02T14:08:12Z")
I have heard people describe Olivia Newton-John with the phrase that you used – “beautiful but not sexy”! Same thing with Lynda Carter. I, on the other hand, thought that they qualified as both! Opinions? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-persons-who-are-beautiful-but-not-sexy/626936/36 "2012-07-02T15:05:38Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > I am currently rewatching all of _Star Trek: TNG_, which I first watched in its initial run when I was a teenager. I am reminded that I’ve always thought that Gates McFadden (Dr. Beverly Crusher) was very beautiful, but not sexy at all. > > Marina Sirtis, on the other hand, makes my pants go crazy. I can see your point about McFadden, but I think she didn’t come off as sexy because she neither played the character that way nor was costumed in a catsuit or sundress. I recall an early episode in which she joined Picard in one of his hard-boiled mysteries on the holodeck. Dressed as a femme fatale and showing off her legs, she was extremely sexy. Marina Sirtis never did it for me, for some reason. Not even her clavicles. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-persons-who-are-beautiful-but-not-sexy/626936/37 "2012-07-02T15:08:49Z")
> [@PandaBear77](#): > > Jodie Foster. Now that is simple madness. That woman is made of sex appeal. Even momming it up in _Panic Room_ and _Flight Plan_, she was quite hot. I love her nose in particular. > [@gytalf2000](#): > > I have heard people describe Olivia Newton-John with the phrase that you used – “beautiful but not sexy”! Same thing with Lynda Carter. I, on the other hand, thought that they qualified as both! Opinions? No opinion on Newton-John, but Lynda Carter was quite hot on Wonder Woman. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-persons-who-are-beautiful-but-not-sexy/626936/38 "2012-07-02T15:12:07Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Now that is simple madness. That woman is made of sex appeal. Even momming it up in _Panic Room_ and _Flight Plan_, she was quite hot. I love her nose in particular. > > No opinion on Newton-John, but Lynda Carter was quite hot on Wonder Woman. I certainly thought so! I was very surprised to hear that some guys thought differently. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-persons-who-are-beautiful-but-not-sexy/626936/39 "2012-07-02T15:15:04Z")
> [@gytalf2000](#): > > I certainly thought so! I was very surprised to hear that some guys thought differently. I recall when WW changed both networks and time settings. When they moved to the current day, they ditched Wonder Woman’s invisible plane in what even the 12-year-old Skald recognized as a transparent ploy to force Lynda Carter to do more cross-country runs. I knew I was being manipulated; we all did. No one cared. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-persons-who-are-beautiful-but-not-sexy/626936/40 "2012-07-02T15:48:06Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Keira Knightley and Natalie Portman fall into the beautiful, but not sexy category these days. Keira Knightley was the first person I thought of when I saw the thread title–but only in the \*Pirates \*movies. Between the wardrobe, lighting, and makeup, she is uncannily beautiful, but not someone I find sexy at all. The candid shots of her that I’ve seen, on the other hand, are neither remarkably beautiful or sexy. I’ve seen some pics where she’s more pretty than average, but not someone you look at and say “wow”. ETA: I really have to wonder about anyone who doesn’t find Lynda Carter sexy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-persons-who-are-beautiful-but-not-sexy/626936.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-persons-who-are-beautiful-but-not-sexy/626936.md?page=3)