Katigbak, Laura Clarissa L.

Biology 1

2009-41357
The Discovery Channel documentary ‘The Science of Sex Appeal’, explores not only the factors that humans take into consideration when choosing a possible mate, it also explains the chemicals that are involved in both choosing a mate and maintaining a long term relationship with that mate. Attraction can stem from different physical features ranging from facial symmetry to body movement and even voice. Humans look for characteristics that they want to pass on to their offspring and signs of health as reflected by appearance.
When it comes to the face, attractiveness has been attributed to symmetry and balance, as well as the masculinity and femininity of a face. The
Greeks
Other important chemicals are endorphins, oxytocin and vasopressin. Once a mate has been chosen, one then has to keep that mate. In the animal kingdom, polygamy is not really an issue, however humans opt for monogamy. Endorphins and oxytocin are the chemicals associated with being happy, falling in love and the maternal urges in women. In order to keep one’s mate, one needs to have the person at a healthy level of these chemicals. In men, it was found that men with vasopressin are those least likely to stray, the same with a monogamous animal, the prairie vol. Even after all these scientific explanations for attraction and love, the video concludes that love in the end is something that is much more than just choosing genes to pass on and chemical levels. Choosing to stay in a relationship is a choice and something people can choose to work on.
The documentary was very insightful in terms of how people become

attracted to one another. It also provided me with ideas on how to become more attractive if I chose to. I told a lot of my friends about the video and all of them were very interested because this process of being attracted to people and wanting to attract people in return is very integral in human life, especially for certain stages in our life like the adolescent stage. There are a lot of instances when I see couples that don’t really make sense to me. This has also been echoed by my friends and perhaps even society in