Does anyone else vacillate between feeling hot (attractive) and repellant?

Some days I feel like all the women around me find me desirable, and other days I feel like none of them do. I rarely feel ‘in between’.

I don’t really like feeling either extreme. For one thing, I don’t trust either feeling! Feeling unattractive is obviously a bad feeling, but feeling ultra attractive is also bad. It leads me to uncomfortable fantasies and an inability to distinguish normal interactions from flirtation.

Does anyone else feel like this?

  • BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Sure, but I’m also nearly 50 so sometimes I look at myself and think I really should scrape together the money for Botox, and then I catch some guy ogling my tits and wonder what I’m worried about because I don’t particularly want male attention in general, because I am OVER it.

        • electric_nan@lemmy.mlOP
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          9 months ago

          I’m 45 and have been married to the same woman for over 20 years. I love her very much but I also can’t help but wonder sometimes what dating would be like now.

          • BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            I can’t imagine! I’ve been married 26 years and I’ve never even online dated. I don’t think I’m cut out for it. It seems unreal. My friend has tons of success on those sites and says for every women there are like 50 men clamoring for her attention. But I’m really not that into love anymore myself.

            • electric_nan@lemmy.mlOP
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              9 months ago

              That’s funny. I have had male friends get divorced in their 30s and 40s say that they are hot commodities among women their own age. They never date for long before ending up in another LTR though.

  • Elise@beehaw.org
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    9 months ago

    Well I like how I look but I don’t really think about attractiveness if that makes any sense? It’s more that I might accidentally run into someone who I emotionally suddenly click with. It’s pretty rare!

  • Azzu@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    Sorry, no, I always feel pretty much as attractive as I am.

    Which is extremely attractive to some people, and average or below average to most other people.

    It completely depends on other people for me. I’m not attracted to myself, so my sense of attractiveness also does not come from me.

    Which means I do actually “feel” differently attractive. Is this maybe what you’re talking about?

  • moody@lemmings.world
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    9 months ago

    I feel it much more depending on my grooming. Not so much in terms of smell, as I take care of that pretty well, but in terms of keeping my hair kempt, and beard trimmed and shaved neatly which I’m often lazy about.

    • electric_nan@lemmy.mlOP
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      9 months ago

      That could also be part of it for me. I’m that average white dude that’s bald with a beard. I definitely feel better with my head and neck freshly buzzed.

  • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    Yes I have this going on. It seems to me that people either desperately want me, or they’re disgusted with me. Nobody seems to just ignore me.

    • electric_nan@lemmy.mlOP
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      9 months ago

      I’m not even talking about actual external feedback. Like, this is all purely in my head as far as I know.

  • stealth_cookies@lemmy.ca
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    9 months ago

    I definitely notice that depending on how I’m dressed women will or won’t look at me or choose to stand next to me out in public. I’ve got a jacket that I’m not sure what it signals, but it causes women to much more frequently stand beside me when waiting for the train.

    • electric_nan@lemmy.mlOP
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      9 months ago

      Respectfully, that isn’t it. I’m a grown person-- mid forties, admittedly neurotic. I have a full time job in an office. I have a small group of close friends, and I’ve been married for over 20 years. I recognize that this issue I have has to do with my self-image, and that these aren’t trustworthy feelings. I’m not under socialized.