So accurate

I think your estimate is a little low.

hands up everybody who was trying to be nice to a girl they find sexually attractive WITHOUT harboring the desire to fuck her

to emphasize it. if an option to underline, bold or otherwise stress the desired word is unavaliable, all you can do is use the quotation marks or similar stuff like these: ** >< ''

I guess... It doesn't need to be emphasized though.
Also asterisks are the standard for that. Everything else is just silly. Especially quotations, as they serve a relevant, specific function.

agreed on the asterisks point.
i would argue it was appropriate to emphasize it since it would usually get emphasized during a verbal conversation.

True, but the only time you'd generally see that reflected in text would be in comics, when emphasized words are in bold. It's just odd.