EVER wondered why that beautiful woman is walking hand-in-hand with that bald bloke with a paunch?

It may just be that he has more sex appeal than the hunk next door.

Luckily for many, you don't have to be good looking to have sex appeal.

It's an aura that lingers long after you've left the room and makes people weak-kneed without any exchange of words.

It makes your heart beat faster and the minutes go slower.

"Sex appeal is all about body language, it's how you capture that sense," says social anthropologist Professor Dr Wan Zawawi Ibrahim.

"It could be in the glance of the eyes, the way a person talks and moves. It's something that stimulates and activates your senses.

"But it is also culturally defined. The senses that attract you basically are generated from within the social culture that you live in.

"If you move out of that culture and into another, the appeal changes and the idea of what's sexy may be different.

"From an eastern point of view, like the Japanese, Indians and Muslims, sex appeal is not so much about the flesh as it is not in our culture to exhibit it."

But, says Zawawi, there is no universal agreement, when it comes to sex appeal.

"In countries where the display of skin is prohibited, there are other ways to create appeal."

The converse is, however, true when it comes to Hollywood movies.

"It's a way of culture conditioning. The media, to a large extent, is very much involved in the way we look at sexuality.

"Hollywood is everywhere, creating these ways of looking at the human body.

"These movies exploit and we have all become victims of that. Through the years, there have been more and more sex symbols.

"Everyone wants to become this or that famous person, making the beauty issue larger than life."

Zawawi says this distracts from the other important characteristics of a person.

"What about personality and the beauty that lies within? Isn't conversation and intelligence equally important?

"Being attractive is also in the way a person conducts herself or himself, but physical notions of attraction dominate us."

Zawawi says people are instantly drawn to healthy, wholesome and voluptuous bodies.

But in cultures where skin is overexposed, he says, the novelty wears off quickly.

"In eastern countries, we do well by keeping things under wraps. As such, people don't lose sight of other assets that can be equally attractive.

"These are more poetic ways that are not explored. What you cannot see, what is not revealed, leaves more room to the imagination.

"I remember how a girl's hair blowing in the wind caught my eye when I was studying in the east coast.

"It was a girl from a neighbouring school. My eyes captured the moment like it was on camera.

"I got her name, wrote her a long flowery letter and 20 days later she replied. We are still friends to this day."

Zawawi says many claim that people now have adopted some of the prehistoric notions of defining sex appeal.

"But it could just be myths. In those times, it was all about instinct and expression.

"They hardly covered up so not much can be left to the imagination. The appeal might have been in the facial features."

And although western countries are moving away from stereotypes, he says, Malaysia is still a step behind.

"There is a paradigm shift. While western countries have started introducing plus size models, we are now still following where they left off. We are in the 'old box', one step behind.

"Beauty competitions create these terms of reference and we are taken by it. We have to deconstruct these mythologies, created by fashion magazines.

"We have to set our own criteria, which is more localised. Articulating the local is very important."

FHM Malaysia's incoming editor Simon Burgess disagrees: "Our beauty contests isn't about objectification, but rather it is about men and women voting for who best embodies 'sexiness' in any given year.

"The truth is, men and women from across the world love our contests, especially the '100 Most Wanted Women'.

"But when we ask the girls we photograph what they think is 'sexy', the answers are unexpected.

"Though you might expect them to say a toned body, a strong jaw line, or whatever, I can tell you the single most popular answer is 'confidence'.

"I think they make a fair point. I can think of many famous men and women who might not be classically good-looking, but have that certain something that makes them sexy.

"Confidence certainly comes into it."