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Romantic orientation

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Not to be confused with Romantic friendship.

Romantic orientation, also called affectional orientation, is the classification of the sex or gender which a person experiences romantic attraction towards or is likely to have a romantic relationship with. The term is used alongside the term "sexual orientation", as well as being used alternatively to it, based upon the perspective that sexual attraction is only a single component of a larger concept.[1]

For example, although a pansexual person may feel sexually attracted to people regardless of gender, the person may experience romantic attraction and intimacy, for example, with women only.

For asexual people, romantic orientation is often considered a more useful measure of attraction than sexual orientation.[2][3]

The relationship between sexual attraction and romantic attraction is still under debate.[4][5] Sexual and romantic attractions are often studied in conjunction. Even though studies of sexual and romantic spectrums are shedding light onto this under-researched subject, much is still not fully understood.[6]

Romantic identities

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Several terms redirect here. For other uses, see heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, pansexuality, polysexuality, plurisexuality, allosexuality, and monosexuality.

People may or may not engage in purely emotional romantic relationships. The main identities relating to this are:[2][3][7][8]

  • Aromantic, meaning someone who experiences little to no romantic attraction (aromanticism).
  • Alloromantic or zedromantic:[9][10] Not aromantic (alloromanticism or zedromanticism).[11][12][13]
    • Monoromantic: Romantic attraction towards person(s) of only one gender (monoromanticism).[14][15][10]
      • Androromantic: Romantic attraction towards men or masculinity (androromanticism).[16][17][18]
      • Gyneromantic or gynoromantic: Romantic attraction towards women or femininity (gyneromanticism or gynoromanticism).[19][20][21]
      • Heteroromantic: Romantic attraction towards person(s) of the opposite gender (heteroromanticism).[22]
      • Homoromantic: Romantic attraction towards person(s) of the same gender (homoromanticism).
    • Multiromantic or pluriromantic: Romantic attraction towards person(s) of multiple genders (multiromanticism or pluriromanticism).[23][24][25]
      • Biromantic or ambiromantic: Romantic attraction towards two genders, or person(s) of the same and other genders (biromanticism or ambiromanticism).[16][26] Sometimes used the same way as panromantic or multiromantic.[27][8][28][29]
      • Panromantic or omniromantic:[28] Romantic attraction towards person(s) regardless of gender or of any, every, and all genders (panromanticism or omniromanticism).[28][30][31]
      • Polyromantic: Romantic attraction towards person(s) of various, but not all, genders (polyromanticism).[32]
    • Skolioromantic or ceteroromantic: Romantic attraction towards genderqueer or non-binary person(s) (skolioromanticism or ceteroromanticism).[26][33][10]
  • Abroromantic: Fluid between romantic identities or in romantic attraction (abroromanticism).[34][35] Not to be confused with aroflux.[36]
  • Pomoromantic: Rejecting preexisting romantic labels (pomoromanticism).[26][16]

Relationship with sexual orientation and asexuality

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Main article: Split attraction model
See also: Romantic attraction, Sexual orientation, and Sexual attraction

The implications of the distinction between romantic and sexual orientations have not been fully recognized, nor have they been studied extensively.[37] It is common for sources to describe sexual orientation as including components of both sexual and romantic (or romantic equivalent) attractions.[5][37] Publications investigating the relationship between sexual orientation and romantic orientation are limited. Challenges in collecting information result from survey participants having difficulty identifying or distinguishing between sexual and romantic attractions.[5][38][39] Asexual individuals experience little to no sexual attraction (see gray asexuality); however, they may still experience romantic attraction.[40][41] Lisa M. Diamond states that a person's romantic orientation can differ from whom the person is sexually attracted to.[4] While there is limited research on the discordance between sexual attraction and romantic attraction in individuals, the possibility of fluidity and diversity in attractions have been progressively recognized.[42][43] Researchers Bulmer and Izuma found that people who identify as aromantic often have more negative attitudes in relation to romance. While roughly 1% of the population identifies as asexual, 74% of those people reported having some form of romantic attraction.[29]

A concept commonly used by people that experience discordant romantic and sexual attraction is the split attraction model, which tries to explain that romantic and sexual attractions are not exclusively tied together and is often used by people of the asexual and aromantic community to explain their differing romantic versus sexual orientations. The abbreviation aroace (or aro-ace) can be used for someone who is both aromantic ('aro') and asexual ('ace').[44]

Aromanticism

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Simplified diagram of the aromantic and asexual spectra
Main article: Aromanticism

Aromanticism is a romantic orientation characterized by experiencing little to no romantic attraction.[45][46][47] The term "aromantic", colloquially shortened to "aro", refers to a person who identifies their romantic orientation as aromanticism.[48][49]

As a romantic minority, it is included in the initialism LGBTQIA+ as the A, standing for aromanticism, along with asexual and agender.[50]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Crethar, H. C. & Vargas, L. A. (2007). Multicultural intricacies in professional counseling. In J. Gregoire & C. Jungers (Eds.), The counselor’s companion: What every beginning counselor needs to know. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. ISBN 0-8058-5684-6. p.61.
  2. ^ a b Richards, Christina; Barker, Meg (2013). Sexuality and Gender for Mental Health Professionals: A Practical Guide. SAGE. pp. 124–127. ISBN 978-1-4462-9313-3. Archived from the original on July 6, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2014.
  3. ^ a b Cerankowski, Karli June; Milks, Megan (2014). Asexualities: Feminist and Queer Perspectives. Routledge. pp. 89–93. ISBN 978-1-134-69253-8. Archived from the original on July 6, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2014.
  4. ^ a b Diamond, Lisa M. (January 2003). "What does sexual orientation orient? A biobehavioral model distinguishing romantic love and sexual desire". Psychological Review. 110 (1): 173–192. doi:10.1037/0033-295x.110.1.173. PMID 12529061.
  5. ^ a b c Van Houdenhove, Ellen; Gijs, Luk; T'Sjoen, Guy; Enzlin, Paul (July 24, 2015). "Asexuality: A Multidimensional Approach". The Journal of Sex Research. 52 (6): 669–678. doi:10.1080/00224499.2014.898015. PMID 24750031. S2CID 35875780.
  6. ^ Hammack, Phillip L.; Frost, David M.; Hughes, Sam D. (June 13, 2019). "Queer Intimacies: A New Paradigm for the Study of Relationship Diversity". The Journal of Sex Research. 56 (4–5): 556–592. doi:10.1080/00224499.2018.1531281. PMID 30362833. S2CID 53102365.
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  8. ^ a b "Asexuality, Attraction, and Romantic Orientation". LGBTQ Center. July 1, 2021. Archived from the original on December 3, 2021. Retrieved March 11, 2022.
  9. ^ Zimmer, Benjamin; Wright, Kelly E.; Hughes, Brianne; Zhang, Lynn; McLean, Jaidan; Carson, Charles E. (2023). "Among the New Words". American Speech. 98: 104–119. doi:10.1215/00031283-10579494. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
  10. ^ a b c Dyer, Harriet (May 10, 2018). From Ace to Ze: The Little Book of LGBT Terms. Summersdale. ISBN 978-1-78685-696-8.
  11. ^ Barron, Victoria (February 21, 2023). Perfectly Queer: An Illustrated Introduction. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. ISBN 978-1-83997-409-0.
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  15. ^ Matheson, Lauren P.; Blair, Karen L. (September 2023). "From continua to kaleidoscopes: How plurisexuality challenges traditional conceptualizations of sexual orientation". The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality. 32 (2): 151–163. doi:10.3138/cjhs.2023-0022.
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  18. ^ Thurer, Shari (2023). "Beyond the Binary : Essays on Gender". Phoenix Publishing House: 1–124.
  19. ^ Woodruff, Elisa (2019). Wellness in asexual-Identified individuals: The Impact of Social Support and Microaggressions (Thesis).
  20. ^ Zamani-Gallaher, Eboni M.; Choudhuri, Devika Dibya; Taylor, Jason L. (September 20, 2019). Rethinking LGBTQIA Students and Collegiate Contexts: Identity, Policies, and Campus Climate. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-429-82426-5.
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  22. ^ Steelman, Sarah M.; Hertlein, Katherine M. (April 2, 2016). "Underexplored Identities: Attending to Asexuality in Therapeutic Contexts". Journal of Family Psychotherapy. 27 (2): 85–98. doi:10.1080/08975353.2016.1169014.
  23. ^ Gatewood, Hunter (2023). Differentiating Sexual Orientation and Romantic Orientation: Exploring Two Inventories of Sexual and Romantic Attraction (Thesis).
  24. ^ Rucco, Daniele; Toffoli, Greta; Anzani, Annalisa; Prunas, Antonio (March 2024). "A Networked Model of Ecological Systems Theory to Discuss Concerns in Italian Bisexual+ and Transgender People After the Block of the 'Zan Bill' by Senate". Sexuality Research and Social Policy. 21 (1): 313–338. doi:10.1007/s13178-023-00906-z.
  25. ^ Zhang, Yang Bo; Mishra, Shraddha; Liang, Emily; Wekerle, Christine (September 2023). "Adverse Childhood Experiences, Mental Health, and Resilience in 2SLGBTQIA + Persons: a Scoping Review". Adversity and Resilience Science. 4 (3): 211–233. doi:10.1007/s42844-023-00095-z.
  26. ^ a b c Ghosh Lisbin, Maya Katyajini (2023). A-Spec: Conceptualizing Asexual Identity, Experience, and Phenomenological Form (Thesis). doi:10.48617/etd.1077.
  27. ^ "What Does Biromantic Mean?". WebMD. Archived from the original on December 3, 2021. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
  28. ^ a b c Hayfield, Nikki; Křížová, Karolína (April 3, 2021). "It's Like Bisexuality, but It Isn't: Pansexual and Panromantic People's Understandings of Their Identities and Experiences of Becoming Educated about Gender and Sexuality". Journal of Bisexuality. 21 (2): 167–193. doi:10.1080/15299716.2021.1911015.
  29. ^ a b Antonsen, Amy N.; Zdaniuk, Bozena; Yule, Morag; Brotto, Lori A. (July 2020). "Ace and Aro: Understanding Differences in Romantic Attractions Among Persons Identifying as Asexual". Archives of Sexual Behavior. 49 (5): 1615–1630. doi:10.1007/s10508-019-01600-1. PMID 32095971.
  30. ^ Hille, Jessica J.; Simmons, Megan K.; Sanders, Stephanie A. (September 2020). "'Sex' and the Ace Spectrum: Definitions of Sex, Behavioral Histories, and Future Interest for Individuals Who Identify as Asexual, Graysexual, or Demisexual". The Journal of Sex Research. 57 (7): 813–823. doi:10.1080/00224499.2019.1689378. PMID 31799860. S2CID 208623207.
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  32. ^ Carrigan, Mark; Gupta, Kristina; Morrison, Todd G. (May 2013). "Asexuality special theme issue editorial". Psychology and Sexuality. 4 (2): 111–120. doi:10.1080/19419899.2013.774160.
  33. ^ Chessin, Krista Ellise (2019). The sexual and romantic orientation scale: a measure of sexual and romantic orientation as separate dimensions (Thesis). hdl:10211.3/213654.
  34. ^ "The experiences of UK LGBT+ communities during the COVID-19 pandemic". National Centre for Social Research. February 22, 2024. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
  35. ^ Rasheed, Ali (2020). Exploring the Experiences of South Asian Students in Undergraduate Programmes: A Case Study in a New Zealand University (Thesis). Auckland University of Technology. hdl:10292/13228.
  36. ^ Rendle, Samantha (July 21, 2023). Hopeless Aromantic: An Affirmative Guide to Aromanticism. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. ISBN 978-1-83997-368-0.
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  39. ^ Priebe, Gisela; Svedin, Carl Göran (2013). "Operationalization of Three Dimensions of Sexual Orientation in a National Survey of Late Adolescents". The Journal of Sex Research. 50 (8): 727–738. doi:10.1080/00224499.2012.713147. PMID 23136981. S2CID 27288714.
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  41. ^ Fischer NL, Seidman S (2016). Introducing the New Sexuality Studies. Routledge. p. 183. ISBN 978-1317449188. Archived from the original on July 6, 2023. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
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  43. ^ Weinrich, James D.; Klein, Fritz; McCutchan, J. Allen; Grant, Igor (July 3, 2014). "Cluster Analysis of the Klein Sexual Orientation Grid in Clinical and Nonclinical Samples: When Bisexuality Is Not Bisexuality". Journal of Bisexuality. 14 (3–4): 349–372. doi:10.1080/15299716.2014.938398. PMC 4267693. PMID 25530727.
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  50. ^ "GLAAD - A is for Asexual, Agender, Aromantic". February 11, 2015. Archived from the original on March 26, 2023. Retrieved March 26, 2023.

Further reading

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