It is qualified as attractive, therefore, to what has the power of attraction.
For example: “My brother’s partner is a very attractive boy who works in the pharmaceutical industry”, “The beach is the main tourist attraction in this city”, “Being locked in a room all day is not attractive to me”.
The physical attractiveness of a person is linked to the characteristics that make it beautiful according to conventional criteria of aesthetics. Although beauty is subjective, there are certain judgments about it that are often shared on a social level.
Of course, everything is more complex than what we can appreciate with the naked eye from our geographical area: in a country where fair complexions predominate, it is likely that the individuals considered attractive by most people are very different from the beauty models of one where the dark complexion is the majority. On the other hand, the passage of time changes everything, and that is why trends must always be studied linked to an era, to a historical, political and social context.
As if this were not enough, the attractiveness of a living being is not exclusively related to its physical appearance; in fact, there are those who completely ignore the attributes of aesthetics and focus only on the way of being, of expressing oneself, of moving, of feeling. All animals have an inner world, with an emotional plane that allows us to distinguish ourselves from others by the way in which we relate to our environment, beyond what a mirror can capture.
Couples that are formed based solely or especially on the physical appearance of the other are usually doomed to failure, since sooner or later old age or illness deteriorate the body and then it becomes more evident than ever that there are no deep reasons that justify the union. The media and fiction are largely responsible for the apparent relationship between love and physical attraction, something that couldn’t be further from reality.
In the same way, the world continues to limit the concept of attractiveness to material beauty, and thus culture is impoverished. If we spend so much time shaping our bodies instead of enriching our souls with art and science, we will never achieve full happiness. Time destroys everything except knowledge and experiences, and these things represent the true attraction of a living being, which remains intact until the last day of its life, and even transcends its death.
A place or an object can also be considered attractive if, due to its properties, it is pleasant or interesting. According to DigoPaul, the concept also transcends the aesthetic or the visual. A town can be attractive for its gastronomic offer, its history or its leisure proposals, but also for the characteristics of its architectural constructions. A mobile phone (cell phone), in turn, will be attractive if it has many features (high resolution camera, Internet connectivity, etc.), but the market also demands that it have a modern look and an impressive finish.
Even a situation, event or proposal can be attractive when it arouses interest or motivates. A productive project, in this framework, is attractive to an investor when they find it viable and potentially profitable. The same can be said by a music lover about a festival announcing the participation of four great rock bands.