Modelling Equal Gender Appeal

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by the_matrix_walker

...when you called me out, where had I gone wrong?

Very specifically, Rupert said that "The 'Androgynous' option is what you're after. If you was merely a non-sexual bonus, you'd want 'Impressive'." You disagreed.

I was reacting partly as a copy editor: If I see two distinct words being used, each with its own entry, I assume that the point is that they describe two different things.

The Androgynous option says, "If your appearance is Handsome (Beautiful) or better, you may specify that your looks appeal equally to both sexes." The Impressive option says, "you can specify that you have exceptional physical presence that doesn't manifest as sexual magnetism."

Both versions give you flat reaction modifiers. But Impressive says explicitly that the reaction does not have a sexual aspect. Androgynous does not say that, and that implies that it does have a sexual aspect. (Exceptio probat regulam in casibus non exceptis: If you state an exception to a rule, you have implied the existence of that rule.) So reaction modifiers from Handsome/Beautiful (Androgynous) must reflect reactions that are partly sexual. But since those reactions are of equal magnitude for all sexes and sexual orientations, they all must be responding sexually.

Now, I think a reason that we disagree on this is that you are drawing a sharp line between two cases: Active sexual desire, such as might turn into sexual intent if you were free to act on it, and sexual indifference. Either you want them, or you don't. To me it seems that there's a middle ground: what might be called an aesthetic sexual response, where you see someone as sexual and take pleasure in contemplating them, but you don't want to act on that feeling.

I think the feelings in that middle ground provide a good model for the response of straight and gay men, and straight and gay women, to an attractive Androgynous person. I think a straight man might conceivably look at an Androgynous man, and think that he's hot, without any intent to pursue him sexually; and that that emotional estimate might inspire favorable reaction modifiers.

Where I think things get more questionable is in applying those modifiers to Sex Appeal rolls. But it does seem to me, on one hand, that if the +4 for a Beautiful woman adds to her Sex Appeal rolls against straight men and gay women, and the +3 for a Beautiful (Androgynous) woman or man exceeds the basic +2 for a Handsome man, then it probably also ought to add to Sex Appeal; and on the other, that since Sex Appeal isn't limited to seduction, but can be used to gain favors in general, the Beautiful (Androgynous) woman ought to be able to use it, WITH its +3 bonus, to gain those favors from straight women and gay men. That just seems to me to be the most consistent way to apply and interpret those mechanics.