Zoosexuality (occasionally called “zoophilia”) is the sexual attraction to non-human animals. Most zoosexuals are only attracted to members of one particular species, or to members of closely-related species; and most zoosexuals are attracted to mammals.
Sapiosexuality is a sexual orientation where the primary feature that one finds attractive is intelligence, rather than appearance or body. It commonly goes hand-in-hand with asexual-spectrum orientations.
An intrasexual is a member of a multiple system who is only attracted, romantically or sexually, to other members of the same system. “Intraromantic” is a more commonly-used term, due to the difficulties of two members of the same system engaging in a sexual relationship.
Multisexuality is a sexual orientation wherein one is only attracted to members of multiple systems. In some cases, a multisexual is only attracted to one member of a system; in others, they may be attracted to several members of the same system, to everyone in the same system, or to people from separate systems. One thing all multisexuals have in common, though, is that they only experience romantic or sexual attraction toward members of multiple systems.
Unless otherwise specified, any orientation that ends in -sexual can have that replaced with -romantic, and it will then refer to romantic attraction rather than sexual attraction.
Antihaemosexuality is a sexual orientation in which one is attracted only to people who are not, at the moment, menstruating. In some extreme cases, antihaemosexuals may only be attracted to people who never menstruate, or who have never menstruated at all.
(Note: I’d never heard of this one before, but I just saw it on a secrets comm. The more you know!)
Polyamory is the practice, desire, or acceptance of having more than one intimate relationship at a time with the knowledge and consent of everyone involved.
Polyamory, often abbreviated as poly, is often described as consensual, ethical, or responsible non-monogamy. The word is sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to sexual or romantic relationships that are not sexually exclusive, though there is disagreement on how broadly it applies; an emphasis on ethics, honesty, and transparency all around is widely regarded as the crucial defining characteristic.
The term “polyamorous” can refer to the nature of a relationship at some point in time or to a philosophy or relationship orientation (much like gender or sexual orientation). It is sometimes used as an umbrella term that covers various forms of multiple relationships; polyamorous arrangements are varied, reflecting the choices and philosophies of the individuals involved.
The “knowledge and consent of all partners concerned” is a defining characteristic of polyamorous relationships. Distinguishing polyamory from traditional forms of non-monogamy is an ideology that openness, goodwill, truthful communication, and ethical behavior should prevail among all the parties involved.
I would really like to include something on this community, but I’m not well-affiliated with it. If any kinksters would like to see it included here, feel free to submit a post!
Pomosexual (the “pomo” means “postmodern”) is a label used to describe those who do not self-identify as gay, straight, or bi, because they feel such labels are unnecessary and outdated.
Authors Carol Queen and Lawrence Schimel, when they coined the term pomosexual, had the following to say:
‘Pomosexual’ references homosexuality even as it describes the community’s outsiders, the queer queers who can’t seem to stay put within a nice, simple identity. We coin the term to situate this book and its essays within and in relation to the LGBT&F community. It is in every way an artifact of, and in many ways a backlash toward, this community — or rather, to certain assumptions widely held within and/or about it, essentialist assumptions about what it means to be queer. We react against these assumptions in the same way that in the art world Postmodernism was a reaction against Modernism.
