#22 Fetish Facts: Accents

What: This is an easy one. You think accents are hot. Not usually all of them. Most people with this fetish get off on one or two, or a handful of similar accents. Like every fetish, there is a spectrum of intensity. There are accent junkies who will sleep with someone just because of the way they talk and there are people who only give a mild preference, like thinking red hair or blue eyes is attractive.

Why: This is the part I love, and I don't feel like I'll be able to touch on all of it in this blog post. I'll go over a few quick and easy points to get you started. While some people swear it's the way the language sounds (guttural versus musical, heavy consonants versus breathy vowels, etc.), research is showing something else. Basically, humans are judgmental and prejudiced by nature. Who knew? There are multiple categories that can trigger our attraction (or the lack thereof). This is not a comprehensive list, but I feel it shows a good representation of what we're looking at.

-Familial: Some people are more trusting of those who have accents related to their family and cultural history. This is an instinct that stems from early childhood. Small children are more likely to accept gifts from and make friends with those who share their language and accent. It's the evolutionary form of "Stranger danger!"

-Economical: Some accents are associated with wealth and status, a thing that women are biologically programmed to seek out in their mate (a man who can protect and provide). That doesn't mean men don't fall into this category too, though! Wealth and status are attractive qualities in a potential partner because they provide safety and stability. There's science behind the gold digger. In the US, this can be most characterized by the British accent. Just look at our media portrayal of British folk! It's estimated that the posh British accent common in American media is the most largely fetishized accent in the US, possibly because it can fall into multiple attraction categories. It's familial in that they are our parent country, it's economical in that we associate it with wealth and status, it's intellectual in that we associate them with prestigious learning, and it has a smooth sort of romantic charm characterized by sharp, bad ass fictitious characters that Americans just love (such as James Bond). On the flip side, accents associated with brown skinned individuals are typically considered unattractive in the US, as they are linked with lower economic status.

-Intellectual: A scientific report said in a German accent will be more readily accepted than that same report delivered in an American accent. This is because intelligence is another thing we measure by culture. That said, the intellectual category alone doesn't usually seem to be enough to generate attraction (not factual, just an observation from personal/anecdotal experience). Some accents are associated with stupidity and that can hurt their level of attraction, as in the case of the southern US. This effect seems to be, from my perspective, disproportionately applied to men and women. Men with southern accents are rednecks and hillbillies. Women with southern accents are southern belles and associated with domestic bliss. As someone from the south, I find this trend to be rather annoying. But it is what it is.

-Romantic: Some cultures are associated with romance, giving their accents a particular edge in the lust category. This includes French sexuality, the sensual Italian, and the Latin/Spanish lover. The US tends to favor French accents while the French favor Italian accents.

This is all an example of prototyping, which is an instinctive process that allows us to generically categorize information based off cultural guidelines and experience. Generalizations are designed to give us a clue, a way to predict circumstance and keep ourselves safe. It's healthy to make generalized judgments. It's not healthy to take those generalizations and consider them to be all encompassing fact. It's important to balance generalized expectations with individual circumstance. Obviously people with Southern accents aren't stupid, British folk aren't necessarily wealthy, Germans aren't all geniuses, etc. Understanding our cultural perceptions, and where and why they exist, is both fascinating and more than I have time to get into, so go forth, friend, and study!

Oh! One last thing before I move on. One final reason for being drawn to foreign accents could be related to an instinctive attraction towards genetic diversity, which is healthy for breeding. However, that biological drive is colored by our cultural perceptions. So basically you may have an instinct saying keep it close - strangers are dangerous. You may have an instinct seeking new genes for your gene pool. The latter will most definitely be colored by cultural perception as you seek out the best possible genes for your mate.

Personal Experience: Romantic languages aren't really my thing. I go for Irish accents, because in our media they're portrayed as capable, playful, rebellious, bad asses. Just my type! Accent is never my reason for choosing a partner, though, so I would rate my fetish on the mild side. They're a bonus, not the paycheck.

Final Thoughts: Sociology was my favorite subject in college. I had an amazing professor with a British accent, and we spent an entire lecture talking about it. He talked about how easy it was for him to move here, how his "interview" was mostly the agent asking him to say certain words in his accent. Most interestingly to me, we talked about how he's lived in the US for decades but still has a strong accent, while other accents disappear relatively quickly. My own accent, for example, is mostly hidden and really only comes out when talking to others who have my accent or when I hit a certain level of drunk. Same with my mom, who spent the majority of her life in Texas. The way a culture perceives your accent has a huge effect on how long that accent takes to go away, if it does at all. The more a culture likes your accent, the longer is lasts. Disliked accents often dissipate relatively quickly. This has interesting implications for the effect societal norms and cultural expectations have on our psyche, and I am always a fan of being aware of your cultural prejudices. To judge is human, but to judge blindly is an exercise in ignorance.

There is nothing wrong with having an accent fetish. They're common and you can't turn them on or off. Many people become defensive at the notion that they may be prejudiced in some way, but you can't escape from that. What you can do is be aware of it. It is in denial that we lose ourselves. The purpose of this article was to educate, not to shame anyone for being human.

Irish accents are sexy af.

#fetishacademy #accents #sociology #culture