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Orientation

This may be short for sexual and/or romantic orientation.

A sexual orientation (or someone’s ‘sexuality’) refers to a person’s sexual attractions (or lack thereof) toward other people. It is not defined by sexual activity, which can be independent of a person’s orientation. Examples of sexual orientation can include: pansexual, heterosexual, asexual, etc.

Someone’s romantic orientation is related to a person’s romantic attractions or desires – independent of sexual attractions. Romantic orientation is generally expressed in terms of which gender or genders a person is attracted to in relation to the person’s own. These terms usually end in the suffix “-romantic”.

Other definitions/things to note:

A person’s orientation (sexual, romantic, or both) is independent of their gender identity.

Romantic orientations are most often referred to in asexual communities, but they are not exclusive to asexual people. Although a person’s sexual and romantic attractions are usually implied by the same word used for their sexual orientation, a person’s romantic and sexual orientation may differ.