Sex appeal in eyes of beholders

Press, 31 August 1977, Page 1

Sex appeal in eyes of beholders

: NZPA correspondent Melbourne Wien it comes to erotic fantasy, the eyes have it. An American expert on the subject has identified the eyes as “the primary organs of erotic attraction between two persons.” He also revealed that most of us are likely to fall in love with a fantasy — not a partner. Professor John Money, of the Johns Hopkins University and Hospital in Baltimore, was speaking in Melbourne at the congress of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science. As well as being professor of medical psychology and pediatrics. Professor Money is also president ot the Society for the Scientific Study of Sex. According to Professor Money, in humans as opposed to animals, the eyes supplant the nose as the first culprit in erotic attraction. “The ears, of course, may play a part — but It is the visual image par excellence that initiates erotic arousal,” he said. “When two persons simultaneously reciprocate signals they become potential lovers.” Although he says most people fall in love not with a partner but with a fantasv of what that partner could become, he adds that if the signals fit the fantasy well enough, it will materialise.