Sex symbol

From Academic Kids

Missing image
Raquel_welch_1millionyearsbc.jpg
Poster from the movie One Million Years B.C., which made a renowned sex symbol of actress Raquel Welch.

A sex symbol is a famous person, male or female, who is found sexually attractive by the general audience. The term was first used circa 1911.

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The movie industry played an important part in the rise of sex symbols. It disseminated images of beautiful people around the world, especially in the time of silent film, when there were no language barriers. One of the first sex symbols was the Danish actress Asta Nielsen in the 1910s and 1920s.

Although movies are still important, sex symbols nowadays are often created by television in general and soap operas and music videos in particular. Many "supermodels" of the fashion industry are also regarded as sex symbols.

Sometimes sex symbols, mostly male, can even be people who are not portrayed as beautiful or handsome, but possess other qualities that make them sexually attractive. Adolf Hitler was regarded as a sex symbol in Nazi Germany.

Many teen idols are also sex symbols. In particular, boy bands are frequently regarded as sex symbols by adoring fans. Fans frequently focus their attention on a single member of the group, but the entire group is seen as a sex symbol by association.

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Britney_Spears2.jpg
Singer Britney Spears is considered by many to be a sex symbol

Fictitious, animated, or virtual sex symbols also sometimes achieved popularity. Especially among fans of anime and manga, referred to as otaku, fictitious characters frequently featured in fan-authored dōjinshi, some of which are erotic (ecchi) or pornographic (hentai) in nature. See also: bishōjo and bishōnen. Besides anime and manga, non-Japanese animation and video games are the source for a number of fictitious sex symbols.

Alternate meaning

Alternately, sex symbol can refer to the two symbols used to represent the biological sex of an organism: ♀ for females, and ♂ for males.

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