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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 1773168" data-attributes="member: 3146">A lot of people get side-tracked by the notion of charisma as sexual attractiveness. That said, they don't get that sexual/physical attractiveness is itself very much a variable thing. Well, I suppose that's easier to see with men than women, but let's run with it:Hypersmurf's morbidly obese sorceror has to be physically/sexually attractive.A lot of women seemed to think Bill Clinton was attractive and he was hardly svelte. I get the impression a lot of people think of Reuben Stoddard of American Idol as attractive. And, to put it politely, he's rather heavy. There are a lot of men who are certainly attractive to women but don't have the toned physique and airbrushed tan of your standard action hero movie star.Men tend to be more visually oriented than women so it's no surprise that there aren't as many obvious examples of women radically outside the prescribed standards of beauty who are attractive. However, it's a well-known fact that cultural standards of beauty have exhibited a good deal of variation. While tanned skin is thought to be sexy  at the moment, light skin was considered a sign of beauty in many cultures (including medieval Japan). While modern Americans value a certain topheaviness in women, those of the 20's admired small busts. Etc. Marilyn Monroe doesn't match the modern body type expectations. It's even clearer in the non-airbrushed and surgically altered coridoors of real-life. I'm sure most men have known women who they found extremely attractive despite (or perhaps because) they didn't fit the normal expectations of female beauty.So, even if charisma is only thought of in terms of phyiscal/sexual attractiveness, there's room for a lot of variation.Then again, as others have pointed out, that is hardly the only--or even the most important--quality of charisma. Charisma also betokens force of personality, leadership, and communication ability. I would venture a guess that very few posters on this board would have found FDR or Ronald Reagan physically attractive but many of us would have found them to be exceptionally inspiring leaders and communicators. In Star Trek, the Next Generation, I imagine a lot of people would rate Cmdr Ryker as more attractive than Piccard (certainly by generic standards of physical attractiveness apart from other considerations) but I doubt anyone would assign Ryker a higher charisma.</blockquote>

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