I thought of you when I read an essay in O magazine a while back that said that when people project simple but sincere non-sexual interest they often are read as signaling sexual interest because the body language is the same. For instance, you might lean in because you are fascinated by what some guy is saying but he might read it as "I am open to being physically close to you."
This may be a gigantic digression, but IMHO this assessment is a subtle but real misrepresentation. There's a reason the body language is the same. At least in my experience, sincere interest isn't all that far removed from sexual interest. I find fascinating people or people talking about fascinating things *very* sexually attractive. Not "Oh my god I'm going to rip your clothes off/take me now" sexually attractive, but the antennae do vibrate. This is *hugely* different from sexual *intent* and maybe that's the point the article was trying to make.
Maybe I'm just wired up weird ... but I find I can't keep my sexual attraction in a little watertight compartment separate from my intellectual attraction or emotional attraction or aesthetic attraction. There's a lot of overlap. Knowing that this is so and accepting it as just the way I swing allows me to put sensible fences in place without feeling like some kind of uber-whore.
"Show me a completely smooth operation and I'll show you someone who's covering mistakes. Real boats rock." -- Frank Herbert
