Homo, hetero... and other sexualities - DYKKA.com

Sexual orientation is part of who we are . We deal with it before we even fill out a Tinder profile. We even think about it before we even know there's a word for it.

So, what exactly is sexual orientation ? How many are there ? And what are the types of sexuality ?

If we want to be soooo professional and precise, we will use the definition from the Government Strategy for Equality and Removing Barriers to a Dignified Life for LGBTI+ People in the Czech Republic in 2021–2026 : "Originally a medical term denoting determination to have romantic or sexual attraction to people with certain characteristics[,] such as sex/gender."

Translated into human terms: sexual orientation tells us who we are sexually attracted to .

Probably the most common sexual orientation in the world is heterosexuality . A heterosexual person is someone who is attracted only to people of the opposite gender or sex, most often a man who likes women and a woman who likes men .

Many people also think of homosexuality . When someone is homosexual, it means that they are only attracted to people of the same gender or sex. A homosexual man is called a gay , a homosexual woman is called a lesbian .

But that's not all! There's also bisexuality , which is a sexual orientation towards at least two sexes or genders. This means it overlaps somewhat with pansexuality , which is an orientation towards any sex or gender.

There are even people who are sexually oriented towards themselves . Their orientation is called autosexuality .

These are all allosexual orientations, that is, those where there is some sexual attraction. But there is another category: The orientation of people who are not sexually attracted to any gender or sex at all. This is called asexuality . But there are also people who only start to be attracted to someone when they form an emotional relationship with them . We call such an orientation demisexuality .

What if I'm non-binary and I only like boys...?

Yes, that's exactly why these boxes don't fit everyone . That's why the terms gynephilic (someone who likes women or feminine people), androphilic (someone who likes men or masculine people), and ambiphilic (someone who likes both masculine and feminine people) are sometimes used.

Does this mean that asexuals don't want to date anyone?

No! Asexuality just means that a person does not feel sexual attraction to any sex or gender. But that doesn't mean they don't feel any romantic attraction . It's similar to sexual orientation: We have heteroromantic, homoromantic, biromantic... and also aromantic orientation.

Moreover, whether we are in a relationship with someone is not just a question of sexual or romantic orientation, but also a personal decision. Even some heterosexual heteroromantics do not want to date because they want to focus on work or study, have past trauma, or have dedicated their lives to the church.

How do I know what my sexual orientation is?

To put it bluntly: There's no reliable test . But you can ask yourself these questions: Who do I like? Are they people of the same sex or gender, or more than one? Who do I masturbate to ? Who would I want to have sex with?

But whatever your sexual orientation, you are still just as valuable a person as anyone else .