Canoodling with a college boyfriend in the Twin XL one evening a few years ago, I whispered a particularly unusual sweet nothing into his unsuspecting ear. “That Adam’s apple could kill a man,” I said, resting a finger on the tracheal protrusion in question.
My then-boyfriend dutifully, willfully ignored this comment, perhaps hoping that in doing so he could somehow return to a simpler time before it had been uttered at all, or at least repress it deeply enough to forget it altogether. By morning, however, his curiosity got the better of him. “Last night, did you say that my Adam’s apple … could kill a man?” he asked.
Reader, I did say that, and to this day, I don’t regret it. Without ever knowing exactly why — or even, for that matter, what an Adam’s apple actually is — I’ve always been attracted to prominent ones in men the same way one might be attracted to large thighs or chest hair or defined forearms or square jawlines. It’s just a characteristic of some male bodies which, while not inherently sexual the way, say, genitals are, I’ve always found very sexy in a sort of understated way.
While I may represent something of a minority in this particular affinity, the internet is home to a smattering of evidence suggesting I’m not entirely alone in my appreciation for a man with a sizable lump in his throat.
An old reddit post polling the ladies of r/AskWomen on their feelings about a protruding Adam’s apple received a wide array of responses ranging from, “Kinda gross,” to, “I wanna lick it.” But while the vast majority of respondents expressed neutrality bordering on mild disgust for a pronounced Adam’s apple, there were a handful who admitted it could be a turn-on.
“I think they’re totally sexy,” wrote one user. “Something about being exclusive to men but at the same time they seem so vulnerable … kind of fascinating.” Another user commented that while they don’t feel any particular attraction to a pronounced Adam’s apple, they “do associate them with masculinity.”
A slightly more recent Quora query asking whether it’s “weird to find Adam’s apples attractive in men,” received significantly more responses from fellow Adam’s apple enthusiasts confirming that such an attraction is not, in fact, “weird.”
“Personally I find Adam’s apples extremely attractive in guys, right up there with jawline and abs,” wrote back one respondent, adding that prominent Adam’s apples have adorned the throats of male statues for centuries, dating all the way to Greek and Roman masterpieces that sought to display the male body in peak form.
“The necks of men have always been attractive to me, and Adam’s apples feel like a perfect addition to them,” added another. “The whole jaw, neck, shoulder area gets little appreciation aside from silent admiration, but it’s ever present.”
Yet another commenter even provided some biological reasoning, however tenuous, for why such a feature might be attractive, suggesting that a large or pronounced Adam’s apple “probably corresponds” with higher levels of testosterone, meaning it might also be linked to “a host of other markers of reproductive fitness” to which people who are attracted to men might find themselves naturally drawn.
More Like This
While “biological” explanations for sexual attraction that hinge on the notion of “reproductive fitness” are often dubious at best, typically rooted to some degree in a binary, heteronormative conception of sex and gender, it turns out that one guy might have actually been onto something — kind of.
The Adam’s apple is considered a secondary sex characteristic in males, says Isaac Opole MD, Ph.D FACP, the Ruth Bohan Teaching Professor of Medicine at Kansas University Medical Center. This means that an Adam’s apple — which, by the way, is not an organ in and of itself, but rather the name given to the visible protrusion of thyroid cartilage surrounding the larynx — is one of various “body changes that develop at and through puberty that produce the body phenotype or characteristics of adult males or females,” Opole tells InsideHook. This puts the Adam’s apple in the same category as various other features and body parts including breasts, round hips, body and facial hair and increased muscularity — many of which, as you might have noticed, are often considered sexy, or at least thought of as sexual.
“In nature, the development of secondary sex characteristics signal that the individual has entered reproductive age,” says Opole. Essentially, these features are what help other mature humans identify us as a viable sex partner, a “potential mate,” if you will.
“Over time, cultural and societal reinforcement of these characteristics as desirable in a potential mate has resulted in the perceived ‘attractive’ or ‘sexy’ appeal of body characteristics, including the Adam’s apple,” Opole explains.
However, before you go parading your pronounced Adam’s apple as a sign of your unparalleled masculinity, Opole clarifies that a larger or more visible Adam’s apple isn’t necessarily a sign of higher testosterone. “While increased testosterone levels produced by males during puberty are the primary drivers for changes in the larynx resulting in a larger Adam’s apple, the change is not directly proportional to testosterone levels,” he explains, adding that the size of the visible Adam’s apple “may be affected by other characteristics, such as individual genetics.”
A larger or pronounced Adam’s apple doesn’t necessarily signal a deeper or more “manly” voice either, despite its role in male vocal development during puberty. Opole explains that the depth or tone of the voice is determined by “a number of factors” in addition to the larynx growth responsible for causing the protrusion of the Adam’s apple, including longer vocal cords as well as growth in the facial bones, throat and paranasal sinuses. “These factors together will make the voice sound deeper and more resonant,” he tells InsideHook.
Meanwhile, how much one’s Adam’s apple protrudes also depends, to some extent, on overall body size. “A prominent Adam’s apple may occur only partially due to the size of the larynx, but is also due to body habitus. Thinner individuals tend to have more prominent Adam’s apples, and vice versa for heavy-set people with thicker necks,” Opole explains. “The important thing is that the apparent visible size of the Adam’s apple does not necessarily correlate with a deeper voice.”
But while the kind of razor-sharp Adam’s apple to which certain girlfriends might dotingly ascribe homicidal capabilities doesn’t necessarily indicate higher testosterone or a deeper voice, it does signal both maleness and sexual maturity, which might help explain why some people who are attracted to men or male-presenting bodies may find a noticeable Adam’s apple attractive.
That said, “Different cultures have placed different values on specific sex characteristics,” says Opole. “While the Adam’s apple may appear sexy in certain cultures, it may be completely irrelevant in others, just as breasts are considered sexy in many western cultures, but merely as functional organs in others.”
Even within our own culture, opinions on the perceived sexiness of any given characteristic can vary widely on an individual basis, as the divided response to that one inquiring mind on reddit suggests. When presented with a prominent Adam’s apple, some of us want to lick it, some are repulsed, and others won’t give it a second thought, like one redditor who told me that they “don’t think about them at all,” and would much rather talk about “prominent/protruding kneecaps.” Hey, we all have our thing.
More Like This
Whether you’re looking to get into shape, or just get out of a funk, The Charge has got you covered. Sign up for our new wellness newsletter today.
