Page:Fielding - Sex and the Love Life.pdf/52

 posite sex has a remote background in our biological heritage. The instincts which promote this attraction work for the most part unconsciously. Their biological motive is reproduction, or race propagation, although, of course, their actual. expression toward this end forms only an infinitesimal part of their activity in the social life of a civilized human being.

In every normal person there is a conscious or unconscious thrill, however slight, upon sight of an attractive person of the opposite sex. More often this reaction of the magnetism of sex is unconscious, as in facing the conditions of modern reality, we cannot concern ourselves with every passing object that pleases us.

Nevertheless, the unconscious thrill is invariably present, and we sometimes consciously reflect it by casting a second glance, or manifesting some other form of sexual interest which we may or may not care to recognize as such. This unconscious trait of our psychic make-up is not very discriminating. It goes out to all fairly attractive members of the opposite sex.

There is, however, one feature of our unconscious love emotions that evidences a marked discrimination. Why is it that each of us instinctively takes to, or shows a preference for, a certain type of individual of the opposite sex? Why is it that so many people fall in love at first sight—often to fall out again as soon as they get a chance to become acquainted?

This characteristic in us works so subtly that we may fail to realize that there are types to which we are attracted— and others that we are not attracted to at all, or are repelled by.

Nevertheless, we all realize that we may meet certain people that interest us (consciously) from the very first, and we do not know the reason why. All our reasoning may tell us