the glossary · word
what does allosexual mean?
allosexual
Allosexual means someone who does experience sexual attraction. That is the entire definition, and the interesting thing about it is why it had to be invented at all. Before the word existed, 'not asexual' had no name, because it was treated as the default that requires no label, the water the fish never notices. Naming it does something useful. It turns an assumed baseline into one option among others. Straight people needed the word straight for exactly the same reason. You can only really see a norm once somebody bothers to label it.
this one has a whole chapter under it. read: what demisexual actually means →
what to read on this
- Ace Angela Chen what the ace spectrum shows everyone about desire, not just ace people. the clearest writing anywhere on compulsory sexuality. the vantage point most of my videos are written from.
- Come as You Are Emily Nagoski the 300 page version of responsive versus spontaneous desire. it is how you tell "my desire needs a running start" apart from "my attraction needs a whole relationship first".
amazon affiliate links. buying through one costs you nothing extra and keeps this page free. every book i recommend →
also asked
is allosexual the opposite of asexual?
Roughly, though opposite is a bit strong for something that runs on a spectrum. Asexual and allosexual sit at the two ends, with the grey area in between, so plenty of people fit neither cleanly. That is the point of having the spectrum rather than the two boxes.
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this is one of about thirty words i have collected for feelings most people never got names for. i send one a week, with the reason it works that way.
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