Lust List 2016

Beauty is a beast

By CL staff Thursday February 11, 2016 04:00 AM EST

A former Lust Lister recently informed me of the curse. “The Lust List Curse,” she called it. “You’ll be single for at least five years,” she said. “Unless you get with someone who has been on the List.”

Imagine that. Doomed to a series of casual relationships with people Creative Loafing readers have deemed the most beautiful (and accessible) Atlantans the city has to offer.

“Some curse,” I said. “Sounds like pure torture.”

But it also got me thinking about the nature of beauty and the assumed privileges, both real and imagined, that come with it. Maybe good looks mask more than they reveal. In a society where everything from body size to skin color is judged on a fixed scale, how does one determine the true basis of attraction? Consider this your starter kit.

Behind our quirky list of 69 questions, we’ve attempted to break the ice for you would-be suitors out there. We hope we’ve revealed something to turn this year’s winners from objects of lust to individuals subject to their own desires, emotional whims, and experiences. We also decided to give them some agency this year. Instead of a highly managed photo shoot, CL Art Director Wes Duvall and Graphic Designer Rachel Hortman suggested we put each Lust Lister in a photo booth and closed the curtain while they struck poses in private.

As we do each year, we’ve planned a party to celebrate the winners. Come if you dare and maybe you can meet the real people behind the public fantasy. Or do it for less selfish reasons. Who knows? You might save a Lust Lister from five years of cursed beauty.

— Rodney Carmichael