I feel attracted to criminals.

All kinds of criminals.
And it really is something that makes me feel different/weird.

I would say that borders on paraphilia, but... from the user name, I'm assuming female? If so, well, I mean there are some women that take the attraction for the 'bad boy' to an extreme. It is... not a good idea, in my opinion, and I don't understand it one bit, to be honest. Now, I'm not completely on top of the ins and outs, but there are personality disorders that play off one another (Borderlines and Narcissists probably being one of the most well-known parings), and if there's other issues going on such as a PD, then you might find yourself naturally drawn to what you find exciting which might be the AsPD type or something.

I went through a phase in my early-to-mid 20's where I found myself only attracted to men who'd done federal prison (2+ years) time and had "dangerous offender" status.

Eventually I realized they just plain don't make very good boyfriends

One psychoanalytical theory suggests your first orgasm with a person would be associated with the types of traits you're later attracted to.

Apparently, one of the many approaches at addressing this is to keep making yourself date "nice" people until you learn to like it.

That being said, I think I often choose people contingent on how close I want to get to others (consciously or unconsciously) - and because of this, "types" are fluid rather than static

fyi, this is quite the old thread.

DaturaInnoxia wrote:That being said, I think I often choose people contingent on how close I want to get to others (consciously or unconsciously) - and because of this, "types" are fluid rather than static

i've found i only like males that seem more emotionless. i do not like emotional demands from me and therefore need a man who won't make requests like that ("don't you love me?!"...). that has sometimes led to men on the fringes of normal. i won't say criminals in general are something i'm attracted to, but i have only felt comfort when with someone willing to preform violence. it lets me relax a little, believing i'm not completely in charge of my safety.

poxalis wrote:fyi, this is quite the old thread.

DaturaInnoxia wrote:That being said, I think I often choose people contingent on how close I want to get to others (consciously or unconsciously) - and because of this, "types" are fluid rather than static

i've found i only like males that seem more emotionless. i do not like emotional demands from me and therefore need a man who won't make requests like that ("don't you love me?!"...). that has sometimes led to men on the fringes of normal. i won't say criminals in general are something i'm attracted to, but i have only felt comfort when with someone willing to preform violence. it lets me relax a little, believing i'm not completely in charge of my safety.

They were no longer criminally active.
In recovery, I have no use for that type of thing; they were all in the process of turning their lives around.

Insightful points though - perhaps what you say has been part of it for me as well.
I'd add that they were "Old School"