Recently, new terms for defining sexual orientation have been emerging. Ten years ago, defining oneself as sapiosexual was not at all understandable by everyone.
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Breaking down taboos around sexuality
But things evolve, accompanying societal changes that tend to break down barriers and taboos around sexuality. Sexual orientation is not only heterosexuality, bisexuality, and homosexuality (fortunately!)
Today, we are going to talk about skoliosexuality. To be skoliosexual means being attracted to non-binary people (those who feel their gender cannot be defined by the terms male or female) or people who do not define themselves as cisgender (someone who feels in agreement with their birth gender). Sexologist Debra Laino at Women's Health explains:
It is a very fluid sexuality in the sense that there is no attraction to specific genitals. Instead, you are attracted to the way other people perceive their place (or lack of place) in the gender spectrum.
Skoliosexual: an inclusive term
The term skoliosexual is inclusive, has no attraction to a specific sex, and denies the roles given at birth.
But the term does not put everyone in agreement, far from it. First of all, if we look at the etymology of the word ‘skoliosexuality’ we may be surprised to discover that ‘skolio’ means ‘tortuous’ in Greek. This amounts to defining a skoliosexual person as someone who is tortured. Those who identify as skoliosexual probably wouldn't agree with this. Some prefer to use the term allotroposexual, which has less of a negative connotation. Others, prefer to completely get rid of labels as they can feel limiting and unnecessary.
For more information, check out the video above.