The Sexual Failure of the Handsome Man

It may be that some of you who do not frequent the neighborhood Bijou or look longingly at the feminine glamour exhibited on the cover of Life have never heard of Sophia Loren, but as far as sheer physical attractiveness goes, she is probably one of the outstandingly beautiful women of our day. Her chief claim to fame, aside from her Venus-like appearance, has been her starring roles for the Italian movie industry. My attention was drawn to her recently through reading an account of a newspaper interview held with her by a New York columnist. The portion of the interview that caught my imagination is reproduced here:

At first blush the above quotation seems straightforward enough, even superficial, but there is something teasing and a little rueful about it that raises more questions than it answers. “Why not handsome?” Why this rejection of a really good-looking male as a life partner? Is her response idiosyncratic or a reflection of a common attitude found among women in general? Could there be lurking behind such a seemingly innocent remark subtle psychological profundities that may have generalized significance for the ancient and thorny question of male-female relationships? Is there implicit in Sophia's response a basic distrust of the handsome male, an indication that her jealousy would be aroused not