completely off the wall

[kaigou]

when listing possible sexualities, the list is generally: asexual, bisexual, homosexual, heterosexual. I'm positive I'm missing one or two. Am I? Anyone know?

Comments

[auguris]

I've seen pansexual/omnisexual tossed around. I think that's it, but I could be wrong.

[nykeyoung.livejournal.com]

I think there's pansexual, but that may be one form of bisexual.

[branchandroot]

Thanks to Torchwood, pansexual/omnisexual has gained some currency, though it does not, in current non-fictional life, have many applications I can think of that don't fall under cruelty to animals. As part of the popular consciousness, it might be worth including anyway.

[kaigou]

I'm not sure how that's different from bisexual... unless the assumption is that 'bisexual' is only towards gender A and gender B, while 'pansexual' is towards... uhm, are we not counting transM2F or transF2M as 'a' gender but as separate genders?

*baffled*

[kaigou]

but how would you define it? (see note to auguris, above) -- if it's got me confused, and I thought I had a decent grasp on the nuances...

[kaigou]

that's what I thought, but looking like it's not. must research!

[annotated_em]

Well, if you consider that many people don't identify as strictly male or female--embracing androgyny, embracing genderqueerness, and so forth--"bi"sexuality is a bit limiting. Hence the pansexual or omnisexual labels. "Pan" and "omni" imply that there is a spectrum of gender identities, rather than a dichotomy.

Er. Does that help?

[amytiger]

Pansexual!

[amytiger]

Ahh, beat me to it :D

[auguris]

That's pretty much what I was going to say. In my understanding, it's the difference between "I'm attracted to men and women" and "I'm attracted to people regardless of gender."

[(Anonymous)]

Omnisexual/pansexual are always favourites. Polysexual's a good one. There are hundreds more, but those are the first I can think of.

-- Darksideofstorm @ lj

*curses OpenID which hates me*

[branchandroot]

I'd say "will screw anything, regardless of form, based on how it matches with standards of attractiveness that are not primarily form-based". In the context of Torchwood, it seems to come out to "aliens? hey sure, as long as they've got the kind of personality I like!"

[annotated_em]

"Tentacles: not an obstacle, but a bonus!"

[(Anonymous)]

autosexual?

[kaigou]

I believe that would likely be covered by 'narcissitic'.

[kaigou]

I think 'polysexual' might be a bit of a misleader, at least in that it's got a prefix already pre-empted by a better-known hot potato (polyamoury). Pansexual, at least, isn't so laden with the chance, as well, of getting the reaction, "oh, you just mean promiscuous."

Which, granted, is probably the case when it comes to anything other than heterosexual (and possibly asexual), but that's a work in progress.

[kaigou]

OKAY peoples. I thought Torchwood was a western. What ARE you going on about?

[kaigou]

hey, but the link was still handy!

[arkessian]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torchwood

[annotated_em]

*blinks* A western? Torchwood? No, it's a spin-off of Dr. Who. All cheesy scifi &c. The central character--Jack Harkness--will pretty much shag anything, including aliens. Hence the tentacles.

[tatterpunk]

Objectum-sexual!

And I would opine that pansexuality is a very different thing from bisexuality. The latter, by its very terminology, works within the cultural idea of a gender binary. The former doesn't, and that's a pretty big divide.