Subtle seduction: little things gay men find sexy, in their own words

“He rolled up his sleeves to do the dishes — and I got hot flashes, girl,” my bartender buddy Eric described his new guy. “There’s something about his forearms that just does it for me.”

I looked at Eric’s own forearms — kind of hairy, and obviously well-muscled as he inspected each wine glass in the light. Are forearms sexy? I guess they can be. I can honestly say I’ve never checked out the female variety, so the notion struck me as oddly adorable. Forearms are a thing. Neat.

When the rest of the gang arrived, we took a seat nearby and I asked about the other subtle things men love on other men. I like talking about gay dude issues — always asking what’s up with certain things — and asked about the subtle things men love on other men. After a minute or so I had to reiterate: “Subtle things!” (They’d offered some particularly bawdy observation, the oversharers.)

But the conversation that ensued brought out some particularly fascinating tidbits I recognized as gold for the gentleman interested in upping his game. ‘Sexy’ casts a wide net, fellas, so use these pearls of wicked wisdom to your advantage. After all, the devil’s in the details.

Below are some of the responses to the question “What are some of the subtle things guys do that are really hot?”

“I love his sleepy voice in the morning. That raspy, gravelly sound coupled with his bedhead. I have no idea why it makes me want to jump his bones, but it does.”

“When he stretches and his shirt comes up just enough to show his lower belly. Oh my God.”

“Or when he’s doing something with his back to me and I can see his shoulder blades moving under his T-shirt.”

“Hands that look like he works on cars or builds houses. Strong and calloused. So hot.”

“Watching him work on cars is hot, too. Doing anything manual, pretty much.”

“When he cuts the grass with no shirt on and I can see the sweat running down his chest and back. It glistens.”

“If he’s wearing basketball shorts, he knows what he’s doing and he knows that I’m looking. The fact that he knows what’s going on is sexy.”

“If I catch him reading in bed when I come home, I want to distract him with something sexy — especially if he’s got his glasses on.”

“Reading, in general. I like guys who are smart.” 

“I noticed a guy at work rub his chest today like it was sore from working out. That was really hot.”

“When he sings in the shower and the song requires him to get bassy. It’s head to toe for me, baby.”

“If a guy cooks for me, it’s on, even if it’s not all that great — but especially if it is.”

“I love when a guy is sweating so hard his hair is wet, and he slings his head to get the hair out of his eyes. He can do that in the pool, too.”

“When a hot guy loosens his tie around me…”

“This is going to sound weird, but the landscaper backing his truck and trailer into my tricky little driveway was like ‘mmm!’”

“A guy with a dirty job. I like it when they come home dirty.”

“I just like it when they come home.”

Buried in there are a lot of clues about gay male protean signals: those subtle signs we all use to show we’re interested in someone and want to draw attention to our assets. Have some to add? Head over to OutFrontOnline.com and tell us what a man does that gives you the vapors. Check out our next Sexuality installation where the ladies will bring the heat.