Canvassing the Internet: Platonic Admiration

[tealin]

I know I was behind the door when hormones were handed out, but surely I am not the only one who finds it possible to respect and admire someone – or even just like a fictional character – without being sexually attracted to them. In high school the response to a statement of such admiration was usually full of conspiratorial innuendo, accompanied by a virtual 'wink wink nudge nudge.' I thought that when I joined the grownup world that mindset had been left behind, but I've encountered it a few times recently and it's got me wondering. Anyone out there know what I'm talking about? Opinions? Insights? Observations? Advice, even?

Comments

[floorlamps.livejournal.com]

*delurks*

Mmmyes, I've seen that, too.

It came up recently when a coworker asked me to name fictional characters I'd marry, and I honestly couldn't come up with many/any (the best I got, being pressed, was maybe Mr. Darcy?). I like a lot o characters... I just don't want to marry them!

I think some people do have a functional grasp of this distinction... but just as many don't, apparently (and granted, sometimes people who DO grasp the difference just like to tease... but that's different). Sometimes I think that the Internet exacerbates this fuzzing of the line between admiration and physical attraction. But I freely admit that I've never tried to verify this notion.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Agreed: the Internet definitely encourages lusting after whatever. Fan communities tend to be founded and mostly populated by people who desperately want to get in bed with the object of the fannage, and if you don't, well, you're the only one. Hence my general avoidance of most fan communities on de web. Scary stuff, had enough of that already, thanks.

[floorlamps.livejournal.com]

YES. EXACTLY. When I try to explain to fandom people why I "left" fandom, it usually boils down to some version of this.

[sinick.livejournal.com]

FWIW, to me, 'marriable' is a (tiny) subset of 'fanciable', whereas 'admirable' is an intersecting set with 'fanciable'.