Ethosexual is work-in-progress begun in 2013.  The premise of this piece is that, for at least a portion of the population, a potential partner’s ethical capacity is a significant factor in the attractiveness of that potential partner.

An ethosexual is a person who, in the context of considering a possible sexual relationship partner, finds (i) ethical capacity attractive and arousing and (ii) a lack of ethical capacity repulsive and disgusting.

Many vegans, for instance, find that, having just met a modestly attractive person, this new person suddenly becomes a super-magnetic rock star the moment that person is revealed to be a vegan. Vegans may also find that, upon seeing a super-attractive person at the grocery store, that person drops from a “10” to a “1” the moment that that person puts a piece of dead cow flesh into that person’s shopping cart.

In conjunction with (or perhaps as supporting research for) the book, this project may include a questionnaire along lines such as:

• Would you go on a date with a person who had confessed (accurately) to being a serial killer?
• Would you go on a date with someone who kills for fun (e.g., a so-called “big game hunter” or “trophy hunter)?
• Would you go on a date with someone who eats dead animals (e.g., meat, poultry, fish)?

Self-reporting is generally of low value for research purposes but may be a good way to prompt thought and discussion around what people look for in a partner.  Such a questionnaire may also serve as a quick screening tool for use in, say, internet-dating applications.

Ideally, a project in which researchers monitor involuntary indicators of sexual arousal will eventually be pursued. Such a project could show participants a video of a highly attractive person doing something kind and gentle, and then another video of that same highly attractive person doing something cruel and violent.  A person who shows a high level of arousal while watching the first video and shows a no-arousal/disgust response while watching the second video may be characterized as an “ethosexual.”

 

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