What exactly is Sexy?
What exactly is sexy, and how important are "sexy" characters to a romance novel? I've been thinking about this question a lot lately. I can't seem to decide for myself exactly what sexy is. My characters, for example are drastically different in appearance. My werewolves are all tall, buff, and feral. My vamps are thinner, not as muscular, and not as tall. While my werewolves are not the barbarians many others have made werewolves out to be, they're not as sophisticated as my incubus vamps. Yet I find both "races" of paranormals to be sexy.
I recently posed a poll question on my Yahoo Group, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lycaons_lair/, in which I asked my members how important having a sexy male hero was to a romance story. Eight percent of those who voted said that it was extremely important. Fifty percent said that it was important, but personality was equally important. Thirty-three percent said it was somewhat important but personality mattered most, and eight percent said that he could be a fat slob so long as he had a great personality and treated the heroine right.
So, my next question is: What constitutes "sexy"? Does he have to be "buff" to be sexy? How "buff"? Tall? Or is short okay? Hairy chest? Smooth chest? Pale (like our vamp heroes)? Or tan?
Since most romance books are targeted at a female audience, is it more important to have a sexy male character than to have a sexy female character? Again, what exactly constitutes sexy? There's a growing tendency for romance heroines to look more like "real" women. I've heard high praise for Sherrilyn Kenyon's Night Play whose heroine, Bride McTierney, is not the perfect size six and because the hero, Vane Kattalakis accepts her as she is and finds her sexy. This trend seems to be growing in the romance industry, but will movies and the media follow this trend?
What is sexy? Is there a double standard for sexy? Do we expect more out of the looks of one gender versus the other gender in our characters?
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