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Reference · Identities
Sexual orientations
40 sexual and romantic orientations, documented the same way as the rest of KINKSpec: plain clinical definitions, verifiable history and cited sources. Orientations are identities, not interests — so unlike the kink catalog, these entries carry no popularity index and no prevalence model, only what the evidence supports.
Monosexual orientations3
Attraction directed toward one gender.
Heterosexuality58/100Sexual orientation defined by attraction to a different gender than one's own — classically, attraction between men and women, and the most common orientation in survey research.
Homosexuality82/100Sexual orientation defined by enduring romantic and/or sexual attraction to people of the same sex or gender, encompassing gay men, lesbians, and other same-gender-attracted people.
Lesbian74/100Sexual orientation in which a woman experiences enduring romantic and/or sexual attraction primarily or exclusively to other women.
Plurisexual (bi+) orientations4
Attraction to more than one gender.
Bisexuality80/100Sexual orientation defined by attraction to more than one gender — classically described as attraction to both men and women, and in contemporary usage often defined as attraction to two or more genders.
Omnisexuality27/100Sexual orientation describing attraction to people of all genders in which gender is consciously registered and may shape the attraction — commonly contrasted with pansexuality's gender-blind framing.
Pansexuality41/100Sexual orientation characterized by attraction to people regardless of sex or gender — including cisgender, transgender, intersex, and nonbinary people — rather than attraction bounded by a specific set of genders.
Polysexuality25/100Sexual orientation defined by attraction to multiple genders, but — unlike pansexuality — not necessarily to all genders.
Asexual spectrum6
Identities defined by absent, rare or conditional sexual attraction.
Aroace30/100An identity combining aromanticism and asexuality: little to no romantic attraction and little to no sexual attraction to others, described together with a single compound label under the split attraction model.
Asexuality50/100Sexual orientation defined by not experiencing sexual attraction to others, distinct from celibacy (a behavioral choice) and existing on a spectrum that includes graysexuality and demisexuality.
Demisexuality43/100Sexual orientation characterized by the capacity to experience sexual attraction only after forming a close emotional bond with a specific person, rather than from initial or immediate impressions.
Fraysexuality12/100A sexual orientation on the asexual spectrum in which sexual attraction is directed mainly toward strangers or new acquaintances and fades as emotional closeness develops — often described as the inverse of demisexuality.
Graysexuality26/100Sexual orientation on the asexual spectrum for people whose sexual attraction is infrequent, low-intensity, ambiguous, or conditional — the "gray area" between asexual and allosexual experience.
Lithosexuality11/100Sexual orientation on the asexual spectrum: attraction that a person does not want, or does not need, reciprocated — for some, the attraction itself fades once it is returned. Also called akoisexual.
Romantic orientations7
Patterns of romantic (rather than sexual) attraction.
Aromanticism42/100Romantic orientation describing little or no romantic attraction to others, independent of one's sexual orientation; aromantic people may still value deep platonic, queerplatonic, or familial bonds.
Biromanticism37/100Romantic orientation defined by the capacity for romantic attraction to more than one gender, considered separately from sexual attraction. It is bisexuality's romantic-attraction counterpart within the split attraction model.
Demiromanticism28/100A romantic orientation on the aromantic spectrum in which romantic attraction develops only after a close emotional bond has formed with another person, independent of gender or sexual orientation.
Grayromanticism22/100A romantic orientation on the aromantic spectrum describing romantic attraction that is infrequent, conditional, or otherwise not fully captured by either "aromantic" or "alloromantic" — the romantic-attraction counterpart to graysexuality.
Heteroromanticism31/100Romantic orientation defined by romantic attraction primarily or exclusively to a different gender, considered separately from sexual attraction under the split attraction model.
Homoromanticism39/100A romantic orientation describing the capacity for romantic attraction to people of the same or a similar gender, distinguished from sexual attraction under the split attraction model.
Panromanticism23/100Romantic orientation describing romantic attraction to people that is not limited by gender. It is pansexuality's romantic-attraction counterpart and figures centrally in the split attraction model.
Gender-directed terms6
Attraction described by its object's gender, independent of the subject's.
Androphilia32/100Behavioral-science term for sexual attraction to men or masculinity, used in place of "homosexual"/"heterosexual" when the attracted person's own sex or gender is unspecified, non-binary, or not the relevant frame of reference.
Androsexuality17/100Sexual orientation characterized by attraction — sexual, romantic, or aesthetic — to men or to masculinity, independent of the attracted person's own gender identity.
Ceterosexuality20/100Sexual orientation describing attraction to people who are transgender and/or nonbinary, coined as a Latin-rooted alternative to the earlier Greek-rooted term skoliosexual.
Gynephilia39/100Clinical term for sexual attraction to women or femininity, used in sexology as a gender-neutral alternative to 'heterosexual'/'homosexual' that names the target of attraction without presupposing the attracted person's own sex or gender identity.
Gynesexuality18/100Attraction — sexual and often romantic — to women, female-presenting people, or femininity, independent of the attracted person's own gender. A gender-based orientation term paired with androsexuality, related to the older clinical term gynephilia.
Skoliosexuality16/100A contested term for sexual attraction to transgender, nonbinary or genderqueer people; coined in 2010 from a Greek root meaning "bent," it has been widely superseded in preferred usage by ceterosexual.
Flexible identities3
Predominant orientations with occasional attraction outside them.
Bicuriosity39/100A state of curiosity or openness toward sexual activity with a gender one does not typically partner with — most often used of heterosexual people considering a same-sex experience — denoting exploration rather than a settled orientation.
Heteroflexibility46/100A predominantly heterosexual orientation that allows for minimal, occasional attraction to the same gender — colloquially described as "mostly straight."
Homoflexibility23/100A sexual orientation describing predominantly same-sex or same-gender attraction with occasional attraction to a different gender — the mirror-image counterpart of heteroflexibility.
Umbrella & community terms7
Broad labels that group orientations rather than name a single one.
Achillean40/100Umbrella term for men and masculine-aligned people attracted to men — spanning gay, bisexual, pansexual and other queer identities — named for Achilles's bond with Patroclus in Homer's Iliad.
Allosexuality49/100Umbrella term for experiencing conventional patterns of sexual attraction to others; the counterpart to asexuality, encompassing heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual and pansexual orientations alike.
Monosexuality30/100Umbrella term for orientations defined by attraction to only one gender — most commonly heterosexuality or homosexuality — used chiefly as an analytic contrast to "plurisexual" orientations such as bisexuality.
Plurisexuality29/100Umbrella term for sexual orientations involving attraction — sexual, romantic, or both — to more than one gender, encompassing bisexuality, pansexuality, omnisexuality and polysexuality, in contrast with monosexual orientations.
Queer67/100Umbrella term for sexual orientations, romantic orientations and gender identities outside heterosexual and cisgender norms; also the name of the reclaimed word itself and of the academic field queer theory.
Questioning38/100The active process of exploring one's sexual orientation, romantic orientation, and/or gender identity without having settled on a fixed label; represented by the second "Q" in LGBTQQ and LGBTQIA+.
Sapphic50/100Umbrella term for women — and, in expanded usage, non-binary people who feel a connection to womanhood — who are romantically or sexually attracted to women, spanning lesbian, bisexual, pansexual and other orientation labels.
Other orientation terms4
Documented terms that sit outside the groups above.
Abrosexuality22/100A sexual orientation defined by fluidity: the gender(s) a person is attracted to, and the intensity of that attraction, shift over time rather than remaining fixed.
Autosexuality29/100A sexual orientation defined by sexual attraction directed primarily toward oneself rather than toward other people; explicitly distinct from narcissism and from autoeroticism (the general practice of self-stimulation).
Pomosexuality12/100An identity term for people who decline to describe their sexual orientation using conventional labels (gay, lesbian, straight, bisexual), rejecting the category system itself rather than naming a specific pattern of attraction.
Sapiosexuality39/100A trait-based attraction pattern in which intelligence, more than physical appearance, is experienced as the primary source of sexual or romantic appeal; whether it is a distinct orientation or a preference is contested.
Looking for interests rather than identities? The main catalog documents kinks, fetishes and paraphilias — a deliberately separate taxonomy.