What Your TV Crush Says About You

You’re not weird; you’re just a guy. Let the experts explain.

- Eric Spitznagel

ANTHONY IS SURE he’s found the perfect woman. She’s a platinum blonde with green eyes and a smoking body. Literally: the last time he saw her, she was emerging naked from a burning temple, having just obliterated the Dothraki oppressors who tried to enslave her. There is one downside: this perfect woman is not technically real.

The object of Anthony’s affection is Daenerys Targaryen, the Mother of Dragons from HBO’s Game of Thrones, played by 30-year-old actress Emilia Clarke. But that little detail doesn’t bother Anthony. He remembers every second of her naked fire scene.

Even if Daenerys isn’t your cup of sexy, you’ve no doubt had impure thoughts about at least one character on the small screen. “Media shapes the way we view love and relationships,” says Dr Julia Lippman, a media researcher at the University of Michigan. “People tend to adopt the beliefs and expectations about romance they see portrayed on TV every night.”

The small-screen women we idealise are windows into our subconscious, hinting at what we want from real, flesh-and-blood women. Here are a few examples of what your favourite TV leading lady might reveal about your innermost desires.

1 THE ARSE-KICKING ALPHA FEMALE

EXAMPLES

Michonne The Walking Dead

Daenerys Game of Thrones

Maeve Millay Westworld

DEFINING CHARACTERISTICS

She takes no prisoners and suffers no fools. The odds are against her, but she’ll rise from the ashes anyway and destroy anyone who gets in her way. Men who cross her may be burned alive, stabbed or have their fingers snapped for sport (“Don’t be a baby. I only sprain. Next one I break”). Accessories include scalpels, arrows, Japanese swords and dragons.