Romantic orientation, also called affectional orientation, is the classification of the sex or

gender Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...

which a person experiences romantic attraction towards or is likely to have a

romantic relationship Romance or romantic love is a feeling of love for, or a strong attraction towards another person, and the courtship behaviors undertaken by an individual to express those overall feelings and resultant emotions. The ''Wiley Blackwell En ...

with. The term is used alongside the term "

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring personal pattern of romantic attraction or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. Patterns ar ...

", as well as being used alternatively to it, based upon the perspective that

sexual attraction Sexual attraction is attraction on the basis of sexual desire or the quality of arousing such interest. Sexual attractiveness or sex appeal is an individual's ability to attract other people sexually, and is a factor in sexual selection or m ...

is only a single component of a larger concept. For example, although a pansexual person may feel sexually attracted to people regardless of gender, the person may experience romantic attraction and intimacy, for example, with women only. For asexual people, romantic orientation is often considered a more useful measure of attraction than sexual orientation. The relationship between sexual attraction and romantic attraction is still under debate. Sexual and romantic attractions are often studied in conjunction. Even though studies of sexual and romantic spectrums are shedding light onto this under-researched subject, much is still not fully understood.

Romantic identities

People may or may not engage in purely emotional romantic relationships. The main identities relating to this are: *

Aromantic Aromanticism is a romantic orientation characterized by experiencing little to no romantic attraction. The term "aromantic", Colloquialism, colloquially shortened to "aro", refers to a person whose romantic orientation is aromanticism. It is d ...

, meaning someone who experiences little to no romantic attraction (aromanticism). ** ''For identities within the aromantic spectrum, see Aromantic spectrum''. * Alloromantic or zedromantic: Not aromantic (alloromanticism or zedromanticism). ** Monoromantic: Romantic attraction towards person(s) of only one gender (monoromanticism). *** Androromantic: Romantic attraction towards men or masculinity (androromanticism). *** Gyneromantic or gynoromantic: Romantic attraction towards women or femininity (gyneromanticism or gynoromanticism). *** : Romantic attraction towards person(s) of the opposite gender (heteroromanticism). *** : Romantic attraction towards person(s) of the same gender (homoromanticism). ** Multiromantic or pluriromantic: Romantic attraction towards person(s) of multiple genders (multiromanticism or pluriromanticism). *** or ambiromantic: Romantic attraction towards two genders, or person(s) of the same and other genders (biromanticism or ambiromanticism). Sometimes used the same way as panromantic or multiromantic. *** or omniromantic: Romantic attraction towards person(s) regardless of gender or of any, every, and all genders (panromanticism or omniromanticism). *** : Romantic attraction towards person(s) of various, but not all, genders (polyromanticism). ** Skolioromantic or ceteroromantic: Romantic attraction towards

genderqueer Non-binary or genderqueer gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gender that is differ ...

non-binary Non-binary or genderqueer Gender identity, gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gende ...

person(s) (skolioromanticism or ceteroromanticism). * Abroromantic: Fluid between romantic identities or in romantic attraction (abroromanticism). Not to be confused with aroflux. * Pomoromantic: Rejecting preexisting romantic labels (pomoromanticism).

Relationship with sexual orientation and asexuality

The implications of the distinction between romantic and

s have not been fully recognized, nor have they been studied extensively. It is common for sources to describe sexual orientation as including components of both sexual and romantic (or romantic equivalent) attractions. Publications investigating the relationship between sexual orientation and romantic orientation are limited. Challenges in collecting information result from survey participants having difficulty identifying or distinguishing between sexual and romantic attractions. Asexual individuals experience little to no

(see gray asexuality); however, they may still experience romantic attraction. Lisa M. Diamond states that a person's romantic orientation can differ from whom the person is sexually attracted to. While there is limited research on the discordance between sexual attraction and romantic attraction in individuals, the possibility of fluidity and diversity in attractions have been progressively recognized. Researchers Bulmer and Izuma found that people who identify as aromantic often have more negative attitudes in relation to romance. While roughly 1% of the population identifies as asexual, 74% of those people reported having some form of romantic attraction. A concept commonly used by people that experience discordant romantic and sexual attraction is the split attraction model, which tries to explain that romantic and sexual attractions are not exclusively tied together and is often used by people of the asexual and aromantic community to explain their differing romantic versus sexual orientations. The abbreviation aroace (or aro-ace) can be used for someone who is both aromantic ('aro') and asexual ('ace').

Romantic identities

Relationship with sexual orientation and asexuality

See also

References

Further reading