Sexualities and their meaning
While in ancient times only two sexual orientations were believed to exist, that’s not the case anymore. As our awareness about the world has grown, our awareness about the different types of sexuality that exist has also increased. It is natural to get confused about the different terms that describe these identities.
And this is why here’s a modest attempt by us to encapsulate the different sexual identities and orientations and what they signify. We’ll try to go alphabetically, so let’s get started!
Allosexual
This term is used to describe people who experience any sort of sexual attraction. It is used to distinguish people who aren’t part of the asexual community (discussed below). A large number of human and animal populations belong to the allosexual community.
Asexual
It is used to describe anyone who doesn’t experience any sexual attraction towards anyone. And this is why they don’t desire any sexual contact too. This doesn’t hinder their emotional attraction towards someone as an asexual person may fall in love, date, or get married even without having any sexual attraction. It is just the opposite of allosexual where a person feels sexual attraction towards someone.
Autosexual
When a person experiences sexual attraction towards themselves, they are autosexual. Autosexual people have trouble responding to someone else sexually but can respond fairly well to their own touch. Along the same lines, the term ‘autoromantic’ also deserves mention as it signifies someone who is romantically attracted to themselves.
Androsexual
Androsexual is used to denote someone who is sexually or romantically attracted to masculinity, males or men. This attraction isn’t restricted by the biology, anatomy or sex assigned at the birth of the person. An androsexual person can be a man, a woman, or anyone, the only prerequisite is that they must be attracted towards men or masculinity in general.
So a homosexual man would also identify as being androsexual. In this case, homosexuality and androsexuality would overlap with each other.
Bicurious
When someone is generally heterosexual, but feel that they are curious or open about engaging in sexual activity with someone of the same sex, they would come under the umbrella of bi-curious community. This is more common in women, and a study from University of Essex is also testament to this fact. The study revealed that ‘women are either bisexual or lesbian but never straight’.
Many women generally admit that they would be interested in exploring their sexuality more and possibly engage in a sexual encounter with other women.
Bisexual
Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction towards both males and females or towards a variety of gender which may be similar to or different than their own gender. To illustrate, if a woman is attracted towards men as well as a woman she’d be a bisexual. In the same way, a transgender person may be attracted to a transgender as well as a man/woman.
Demisexual
Many people would like to call themselves Demisexual as it implies experiencing sexual attraction/desire only under specific circumstances. For example, if a woman gets sexually attracted only when she falls in love, she may identify herself as ‘demisexual’.
Sexually fluid
This is an interesting term which philosophies that sexual behavior or sexuality is something that can change over time and be dependent on the circumstances. If a person experiences shifts in their sexual preferences or sexual attraction over time, they may identify themselves as sexually fluid.
Gay
It is a term used to describe someone who experiences sexual or romantic attraction towards people of the same sex or gender. While this term is historically used for men who are attracted to men, sometimes it is used for women too. However several gay-identified women prefer the term ‘lesbian’. It is wise to ask people how they would like to be called.
Nowadays, the term ‘homosexual’ is considered outdated and even offensive, so instead of using this term, one may use gay or lesbian.
Heterosexual
When someone experiences sexual or romantic attraction to a person of the opposite sex, it is known as heterosexuality. You might have heard the term ‘straight’ and yes if a person is heterosexual; they can be called as being ‘straight’.
Lesbian
If a woman or female-identified person feels sexually or romantically attracted towards another female or female-identified person, they would be termed as a lesbian.
Monosexual
It is an umbrella term that includes people who experience romantic or sexual attraction towards people of only one sex or gender. So essentially it would include everyone from a straight person to a gay or lesbian. However, it wouldn’t include people who identify themselves as bi-sexual and others.
Pansexual
A pansexual person is one who experiences sexual attraction towards anyone regardless of the other person’s gender, sex, or sexuality. It essentially means that a person is attracted to people of all gender. It would also include being attracted to someone who doesn’t identify themselves with any gender (agender).
It would be worthwhile discussing the term ‘panromantic’ here too as it is quite similar and at the bear a different to the term Pansexual. Panromantic means someone who is emotionally or romantically (but not sexually) attracted to any person regardless of their gender, sex, or sexuality.
Sapiosexual
It is a term that is quite popular on dating sites and is increasingly being added by people in their vocabulary. Being sapiosexual means getting attracted to someone based on their knowledge or intelligence rather than their sex or gender.
Sex-repulsed
If a person is repulsed by or disinterested in the idea of sex or sexual interactions, then they would be termed as sex-repulsed. The people who identify themselves as sex-repulsed are generally asexual.
Buying the Best Identity Products
We hope the above mentioned information about different types of sexuality was helpful. Now if you wish to celebrate pride, and express solidarity towards individuality, sexuality, and humanity in general, check out our store. At Rainbow Depot, we sell the best identity products that help you in being proud of what you are and celebrating the same.