Reference for Sexual/Romantic Orientations and More by HeartHannah

Just so I can point people here for reference, here are some common definitions of different sexualities/romantic orientations.

Sexual Orientation – based on the gender(s) that you are sexually attracted to (people who you want to have intercourse with, etc.)

Romantic Orientation – based on the gender(s) that you are romantically attracted to (people who you want to kiss, cuddle, hold hands with, be in a relationship with, do couple-y things with, etc.)

Note: These two are not the same. You might be romantically attracted to different people than you are sexually attracted to.

Now, there are different levels of attraction, which can be combined with a sexual or romantic orientation. These include:

Asexual/Aromantic – not being attracted to people of any gender, sexually or romantically

Demi-Sexual/Demi-Romantic – only experiencing sexual or romantic attraction after you have a strong emotional connection with the person

Gray-Asexual/Gray-Aromantic – only experiencing sexual or romantic attraction in certain ways, or not often, or not strongly, etc.

Note: The sexual and romantic orientations are still different. Asexual does not equal aromantic, etc.

Now, onto the orientations.

Omnisexual/Omniromantic – attracted to all genders with less restriction than pansexuals

Pansexual/Panromantic – attracted to all genders

Polysexual/Polyromantic – attracted to multiple but not all genders

Homosexual/Homoromantic/Gay/Lesbian – attracted to people of the same gender as you

Homoflexible (Romantic or Sexual) – primarily attracted to people of the same gender as you, but flexible

Heterosexual/Heteroromantic/Straight – attracted to people of a different gender from you

Heteroflexible (Romantic or Sexual) – primarily attracted to people of a different gender from you, but flexible

Bisexual/Biromantic – attracted to two (some say “or more”) genders, generally but not necessarily associated with the gender binary

Sapiosexual/Sapioromantic – attracted to intelligence over gender

I’m also going to add a dictionary definition for:

Polyamorous – the philosophy or state of being in love or romantically involved with more than one person at the same time

And a definition for romantic friendships from Wiktionary:

Romantic Friendship – An intensely emotional love relationship between two unrelated people, in which sexuality is unimportant and typically absent, but there is greater physical affection or poetic communication than is typical for friendship