FreetheLGBT Pride Month Fiesta

Day 17: The More You Know-Romantic Spectrum

Welcome back! As you may have seen during our informative article, we briefly touched on the romantic spectrum.

You may find yourself asking, "How is the romantic spectrum different to the sexuality spectrum?

Luckily we are here with some answers.

Give us a shout if you are already in the know! 

♥︎

The romantic spectrum and the sexuality spectrum do relate, but are yet independent of one another. For example, somebody who identifies as homosexual may still identify as panromantic (pan meaning all) and this is still perfectly valid. 

Broadly speaking, sexuality pertains to a sexual 'pull' (and asexuality pertains to an absence of or a less intense pull) which describes, basically, who a person's likely to get busy with. 

Romantic attraction is a different kind of "pull", one that involves a desire to do romantic things, like cuddling, holding hands, and spending time with one another. What is considered romantic is different for each person, as some people may be avoidant of touching, and may instead prefer long conversations and walks on the beach. 

Some examples of romantic attraction are:

Biromantic: attracted to two genders

Homoromantic: attracted to the same gender

Heteroromantic: attracted to the opposite gender

Panromantic: attracted to all genders

Androromantic: attracted to males, masculinity, and male-presenting individuals

Gyneromantic: attracted to females, femininity, and female-presenting individuals

Abroromantic: someone who experiences romantic fluidity, sometimes undefined

Please note this is by no means an exhaustive list!

Parallel to the romantic spectrum is the aromantic spectrum, whereby aromantics at one end of this spectrum don't experience romantic attraction at all. It's important to distinguish here that those on the aromantic spectrum may still experience sexuality. For those who experience neither sexuality nor romantic attraction, they may identify as aromantic asexual. 

Some examples of aromantic orientations are:

Aromantic: experiences no romantic attraction

Grey-romantic: experiences rare/circumstance-specific attraction

Demi-romantic: experiences romantic attraction after a bond has been formed

Lithromantic/Akoiromantic : experiences romance but doesn't require it to be reciprocated

Once again, this is not an exhaustive list. 

If you know of any others that we haven't listed above, feel free to share them in the comments. 

And, as always, we hope this has been informative. ♥︎