This intrigues me. How do you, for yourself, define someone as a Beautiful Other?
It's really all about aesthetics for me. They have to stop me in my tracks and make me want to look at them. Obviously, this makes the whole idea of Beautiful Others very subjective for me. While there are those individuals whom a majority of the population would agree are beautiful, there are also those who only strike one other person, or a handful of other people that way. And often, someone with the kind of distinctive appearance that would rate them as someone's Beautiful Other can also appear hideous to someone else. As an example, part of the ongoing battle in Highlander fandom is whether Duncan or Methos is better-looking. A lot of people like both, but to some of us, one is gorgeous while the other is...not so much. Then there's Victoria P. and I drooling over Keanu Reeves even as others say his "wooden face" freaks them out, or thousands of women rhapsodizing over the hotness of Tom Cruise while I get more hot out of my popcorn popper. Beautiful is definitely a concept where mileage varies right over into the metric system sometimes.
Are they more worthy of your time? Why?
While I privilege them visually, I don't really privilege them otherwise. I'll look at a Beautiful Other for a long time, but when I actually have to engage with them, then it's all about their social skills. If you can't carry a conversation, I'm not conversing with you, I don't care how good you look. If you're rude enough, I'll kick your ass no matter how shapely it may be.
How do you delineate between them and Non-Beautiful Others? Do you hold them to different standards? If so, what?
I try not to hold them to different standards, though I do often find myself examining their behavior more critically, to see if they somehow feel themselves above the normal social rules because of their looks. While I admire someone who knows how to use any advantage they have when the situation requires it, I'm not very tolerant of people who rely always and solely on a happy accident of nature to get ahead in life. Particularly in areas where someone's appearance really doesn't apply.
Re:
It's really all about aesthetics for me. They have to stop me in my tracks and make me want to look at them. Obviously, this makes the whole idea of Beautiful Others very subjective for me. While there are those individuals whom a majority of the population would agree are beautiful, there are also those who only strike one other person, or a handful of other people that way. And often, someone with the kind of distinctive appearance that would rate them as someone's Beautiful Other can also appear hideous to someone else. As an example, part of the ongoing battle in Highlander fandom is whether Duncan or Methos is better-looking. A lot of people like both, but to some of us, one is gorgeous while the other is...not so much. Then there's Victoria P. and I drooling over Keanu Reeves even as others say his "wooden face" freaks them out, or thousands of women rhapsodizing over the hotness of Tom Cruise while I get more hot out of my popcorn popper. Beautiful is definitely a concept where mileage varies right over into the metric system sometimes.
Are they more worthy of your time? Why?
While I privilege them visually, I don't really privilege them otherwise. I'll look at a Beautiful Other for a long time, but when I actually have to engage with them, then it's all about their social skills. If you can't carry a conversation, I'm not conversing with you, I don't care how good you look. If you're rude enough, I'll kick your ass no matter how shapely it may be.
How do you delineate between them and Non-Beautiful Others? Do you hold them to different standards? If so, what?
I try not to hold them to different standards, though I do often find myself examining their behavior more critically, to see if they somehow feel themselves above the normal social rules because of their looks. While I admire someone who knows how to use any advantage they have when the situation requires it, I'm not very tolerant of people who rely always and solely on a happy accident of nature to get ahead in life. Particularly in areas where someone's appearance really doesn't apply.