Note: While attraction is not LGBT-exclusive, a lot of LGBT people do experience these types of attraction. Many people don't know about them, so I think it's important to know.
Tertiary Attraction - an umbrella term originating in aro communities to describe forms of attraction other than romantic and sexual. Since "tertiary" means "third," the term has been criticized for implicitly centering romantic and sexual attraction as the default
Platonic Attraction - a form of attraction. It is defined as the desire to form a close platonic relationship (friendship) with a specific person, or to form a closer friendship with someone one already knows. The type of friendship desired typically goes beyond casual friends and revolves around a willingness to engage in a very deep symbiotic friendship, and sharing interests and experiences
Squish - a platonic crush on someone; one will feel intense desire to be someone's friend or to have a platonic relationship with them
Aplatonic - a term that is used most commonly by a-spec individuals that do not experience platonic attraction or by those who do not relate to the concept of platonic love. The term has also been used by neurodivergent aromantics (particularly those with a schizophrenia spectrum disorders) and traumatized aro people, who might not desire friendship or other platonic relationships
Emotional/Ecstatic Attraction - an umbrella term that encompasses many forms of attraction that exist on an emotional level, as opposed to physical attractions such as sexual, sensual, or aesthetic attraction. Emotional attraction could be broadly considered to be a desire to form an emotional bond with a specific person. A person may choose to refer to their attraction as emotional attraction if they want to specify that the attraction is happening on an emotional level, but they either can't or don't want to be more specific than that. Forms of attraction in this umbrella include but are not limited to romantic, queerplatonic, platonic, and alterous attraction
Sensual/Sensorial Attraction - a type of physical attraction to another person involving the senses, usually the sense of touch. This is not an explicitly sexual form of physical touch, for example, sensual attraction could involve an interest in nonsexual forms of touch such as cuddling, kissing, or massage. Sensual attraction can also be applied in non-tactile ways, such as aural attraction to voices; this can be confused with being touch-starved [which is where you suffer symptoms and distress due to a lack of human contact]
Alterous Attraction - a form of emotional attraction. It describes a feeling that is not necessarily platonic/queerplatonic, but also is not romantic in nature
Aesthetic Attraction - a form of physical attraction to a person's appearance. It is defined as an attraction to the way someone looks, or how they present themselves. It is typically based on a desire to observe someone because one finds them aesthetically pleasing. It is often described as a similar feeling to looking at a nice painting or landscape
Romantic Attraction - a form of emotional attraction to a person romantically; someone who experiences romantic attraction may want to kiss, hug, cuddle, or hold hands with someone, among other things
Sexual Attraction - a form of physical attraction to a person sexually; someone who experiences sexual attraction may feel the desire to masturbate, have sex with, or look at sexual pictures/read sexual works about someone
Amical Attraction - also known as Platonicity; a form of tertiary attraction most often felt by a-spec individuals. It is similar to platonic and queerplatonic attraction. It can sometimes be referred to a "best friends" relationship, it can also be seen as a siblinghood type of relationship, though it does not have to be with one's actual siblings; an amical crush is called a shush or a thresh
Shush/Thresh - an amical crush on someone
Tutelary Attraction - also known as Protective Attraction or Dominant Attraction; a form of tertiary attraction that revolves around a strong desire to take care, protect, and support a certain person; a relationship between protective and protected person can be labeled as guardianship, wardship, or tutelage; a person in that relationship who takes on the protective role could be called a comate, cherish, ward, or grace; tutelary crush could be possibly be called a mush; should not be associated with DPD (dependent personality disorder), protectors in systems (DID), or with BDSM and kink related power play sometimes seen in sexual/romantic relationships
Mush - a tutelary crush on someone
Social Attraction - a form of tertiary attraction, defined as "aspirational" or mentor-attractional desire to be closer to and/or more like someone because of their perceived talent and/or wisdom, based on socializing with any particular person(s) or group(s), forming social relationships, interpersonal/group dynamics and societal relations
Rush - a social crush on someone
Presential Attraction - also known as Tangible Attraction, Vital Attraction, or Material Attraction is a form of tertiary attraction based on a desire to know someone through their presence. It is similar to sensual attraction but one desires to be in someone's presence rather than to touch or be intimate with them
Swoon - a presential crush on someone
Mental Attraction - also known as Intellectual Attraction or Psychological Attraction is a form of tertiary attraction based on the desire to form an intellectual bond with someone in particular. This bond is related to an exchange of wisdom, knowledge and interests
Familial Attraction - also known as Parental Attraction, is a form of tertiary attraction based on a desire for a strong familial attachment, or a desire for emotional closeness with another by virtue of them being family. This can refer to the relationship one has with their actual family, but it can also be the desire for emotional closeness from people unrelated to oneself in a way that that mimics a traditionally/idealized familial bond
Cedural Attraction - also known as Dependent Attraction or Submissive Attraction, is a form of tertiary attraction that revolves around wanting to feel protected, covered, understood, tutored, and supported by someone else. It is the reverse of tutelary attraction. With cedural attraction one feels weak and vulnerable, the possibility that someone might protect you makes you feel an attraction towards some that person. It is also based on a feeling of feeling needed or necessary
Gush/Sush - a cedural crush on someone
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Gender and Sexuality Guide
Non-FictionGender, Romantic, and Sexual identities can get confusing and hard to keep straight (haha), so here's a guide to the labels!
