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I believe that if there are any particular or generalizable causes for feelings of attraction or feelings of aversion, they are as yet unknown.  Certainly we may like someone who helps us out when we need help and we may like someone who is nice to us when that is particularly noticeable. And certainly we may intensely dislike someone who treats us ill in a particularly noticeable way.  But as I have said repeatedly, this is not always the case. There are those we are attracted to no matter how poorly they treat us, and there are those for whom we have no particular attraction no matter how (noticeably) well they treat us. How many people have been attracted to another and tried everything they could in a nice way to make the other person attracted to them, only to have their efforts fail! How many times may two people behave very similarly (and even look similar) and yet we may be attracted to one but not the other! And how many times is there instant like or dislike for someone without knowing anything about them! Someone who treats us poorly may even entice our attraction for them at first sight or first nasty treatment. And someone who is nice to us at first may simply seem to have no spirit or personality. Again, one person may be attracted to you, another not, even though you treat both the same or behave the same way toward both of them. One person may be attracted to someone who is forbidden to them (by parents, custom, society, whatever); another may be so influenced by the taboo or prejudice that he or she cannot find attractive those who are forbidden; a third may be attracted to one such forbidden person, but not to any others.

I think the same thing might be said of the causes of our desires or of what we find pleasing. One person likes having his or her back scratched; another does not. I like having my back scratched in some ways but not others. Some people like to have their backs scratched the ways I do not and do not like the ways I do.  When I was little, I hated having my ears cleaned out with a cotton swab; now I think it is about the second greatest physical pleasure possible (second to having your back scratched, in the right way, of course…). Some people like to talk, others do not. In my business, I answer my own phone instead of having a secretary. Some people find that terribly unprofessional and are put off by it; others appreciate that I take enough personal interest in people to communicate with them and answer their questions directly.

Most of us can probably think of things we like or dislike as well as people we like or dislike for no reason we can think of at all. When I was in high school and was in (unrequited) love with a girl I would gladly have died for, or to be with, I wanted to walk her home — miles out of my way.  She had a girlfriend who by my or any objective standards was definitely beautiful, warm, nice, intelligent, friendly. The girl I loved told me that her girlfriend had said that I could walk her home if I wanted to. But I didn’t want to. I wanted to walk my love home, not her friend, regardless of how beautiful, available, etc. her friend was.  Why did I love the girl I did? Why not the other girl? Why be attracted to the one but not the other? Who knows?

So-called Aberrant Relationships

This leads me to a point that I have mentioned briefly before, namely that my talk about relationships has not been specifically about heterosexual relationships, except perhaps in discussions of pregnancy. There are numerous cases where individuals develop romantic attractions that are at least statistically abnormal, and often not understandable at all to many others. There are homosexual attractions, there are romantic and/or sexual attractions between siblings and between parents and children. There are romantic attractions between people of vast age differences, age differences that would be romantically repugnant to most people.

But in a sense, statistically speaking any particular romantic relationship could be considered an aberrant relationship, in that for everyone who might be attracted to another romantically, there are probably thousands of people who would not be. This does not, however, generally bother anyone, except in certain cases of public displays of affection where at least one of the persons is particularly repulsive looking to the onlooker.

The point is however that attractions can develop for ways that seem to have no reason. I do not know why I like some particular people and dislike some particular people. I do not know why I am attracted to some women and not to others who may be equally as pretty, articulate, intelligent, nice, friendly, conscientious, etc. I do not know why I like females of all ages better in general than I do males, not just in romantic ways, but even simply for talking to. Many people have said they think some men are men’s men; others, women’s men. Likewise some women prefer the company of men; others, of women. I find that, for me, women are generally easier to talk with, more open, less ostentatious, more sincere, honest, open-minded, introspective, and more appreciative of higher values than men. Some people find men more frequently that way than women. I simply do not.  The idea of an outing, of whatever sort, with “the guys”, just for male companionship, has no appeal whatsoever to me.  I may prefer the company of some men for some things, for example as a tennis opponent or partner at a particular time, but that is more dependent on their particular skill and personality and the kind of tennis I want to play that day — perhaps hard and demanding — rather than because they are a guy.  If I knew a woman as good or better, I would probably be just as happy or happier with her as a partner or opponent. But I do not travel in some of the better tennis circles, so I do not personally know many women who play the way I would like to when I am in that sort of mood. But at any rate, I cannot imagine calling up a guy for tennis just in order to play tennis with, or to have the companionship of, a male. Of course, there are some particular men whom I like to talk with and some particular women I do not like to be with. But in general I am more likely to get along with women better than with men. I do not know why this is so. Nor do I know why it is this way, or the opposite way, for other men, or for women, or why it makes no difference to some. Some people also have some areas of interest with one sex and other areas for the other sex. The obvious examples are people who like to do most activities, except sex, with their own sex.