The “crusty crush” is an ever-changing phenomenon that I used to think only appealed to me. On a surface level, it is just the name I came up with to describe that crush that you find attractive, but in all honesty, kind of looks like a mess––and I mean this in the most endearing way possible.

Imagine a sandal-wearing, long greasy-haired person rolling their own cigarettes. You would believe it if they told you they hadn’t showered in two weeks. This description may seem familiar, it appears to be a certain look, but also isn’t. You may catch yourself staring at that person who is crusty and you know it, but you swear you think they are one of the most attractive people you have ever seen.

After asked about her experiences with her crusty crushes, Grace Goodell, a sophomore BCE major, says, “I feel like I see random guys on the street with long hair and patchy beards, and I’m like, ‘You’re hot!... It’s just kind of like, you’re really not cute, but I could marry you.”

There is no real explanation for why these crusty crushes occur. It may be a different look, similar to a “bad boy” stereotype that draws you in. For sophomore journalism major Jack Billotti, crusty crushes are his thing.

“Most men who I find attractive look like they haven’t slept in four days and are strung out on some sort of hard drug,” Billoti says. “I think it’s probably a subconscious insecurity thing. If you go after men who are ‘less desirable’ so to speak, you feel like you’re at an advantageous position in the relationship. Or I could just truly have trash taste, who knows?”

As much as I hate to admit it, Billoti could be right about the reasoning behind these crusty crushes. It truly could be an insecurity issue rooted deep within us that pushes us to be attracted to the typically “less attractive” person.

In a study of Mating Strategies of Young Women: Role of Physical Attractiveness by Devendra Singh, the article discusses how men and women both prefer attractive partners in non-commital short-term relationships, but “For committed long-term relationships, females appear to be willing to relax their demand for a partner's attractiveness”. However, the article continues to say that “unattractive” partners only appear to be more faithful in context to the unfaithfulness of “attractive” partners. So, I guess the real question to people with a crusty crush is––who hurt you?

I never speak to these men because I am more nervous around them than I am around what others would consider conventionally attractive. When I walk down the street and see them, I can’t help but look and hope they notice me. And maybe that’s what is so appealing about them, the fact that they never even seem to notice anything besides what they are doing. For me, it is definitely not a conscious thought of my potentially deep-rooted insecurity issues. These are simply the men I see on the street, and for a quick fleeting moment of nothingness, I fall deeply in love with.

Citation

Singh, Devendra. “Mating Strategies of Young Women: Role of Physical Attractiveness.” Journal of Sex Research, vol. 41, no. 1, Feb. 2004, pp. 43–54. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/00224490409552212

Crusty Crush