I was discussing Maxim's Top 100 list with a friend and they referred me on to the AfterEllen list. Its the same thing, except for the lesbien community. 200 hot women, whats not to love right? The obvious next step is to compare and contrast.

First suprising thing is Maxim starts with #100, and AfterEllen with #1. I'd expect the men to want the immediate gratification of knowing who the hottest women of 2007 is first. Instead the lesbien crowd strikes first.

Next obvious thing is the show "The L Word" is apparently the most popular lesbien show ever. In fact I think every actress on the show makes the AfterEllen list. I'm not sure any one show dominates the men's list.

I was going to charge the women's list as favoring brunettes, but now that I really compare I guess both like the dark complexion.

However its clear there are different motivations behind the two lists. Maxim's list could be renamed "Women men would like to fuck" where the women's list would be named "Women women would like to date". The AfterEllen list has a lot of women on it who are accomplished, or show feminin strength. A lot of the women were probably on Maxim's list at one point, but even out of the spotlight, the women still pine for them.

Which brings us back to the obvious, women are experience driven. They crave strong experienced personalities. I think 20 years ago Jodi Foster probably could have been on the Maxim list, but now she's on the AfterEllen list. Perfect example of a strong successful personality. Lesbien or straight, women crave the same things.

So what drives men's idea of attractiveness? Like I said earlier, women we'd like to fuck would be an appropriate title, but why? I read once that man's instinct to procreate drove him to seek out young women as they were more likely to be fertile. That may have been true at one point, but most the girls on the maxim list don't seem like fit mothers to me. Hell Lindsay Lohan made the #1 spot???

I think the conclusion is while women are experience driven, men are fantasy driven. We need pin thin, slightly naughty girls to fuel our imagination. Where women are looking for confident sexy women who might provide that dreamy experience women long for. The man's interest will end right after the money shot, where the women are looking for something more.