Allosexual
Feeling sexual attraction in the ordinary way. The word for not being on the ace spectrum.
Allosexual describes someone who experiences sexual attraction in the way most people assume everyone does. It exists for the same reason cisgender exists: so that the majority experience has a name instead of being the unmarked default.
Without it, asexual people are the ones with a label and everyone else is just normal. With it, there are two descriptions and a comparison becomes possible.
It says nothing about how much, how often or toward whom. An allosexual person can have a low libido, be celibate, or go years without acting on anything. The word marks the presence of the attraction, not its volume.
Allosexual is not a judgement
It is occasionally received as an accusation, as though naming the majority experience were a complaint about it. It is the same move as cisgender: a description that lets both sides be discussed.
It also does not mean high desire. Someone allosexual with almost no interest in sex is still allosexual, because the word is about attraction being present at all.
Saying it well
Say this
- I am allosexual.
- Allosexual and aromantic, as it happens.
- The study compared ace and allosexual participants.
- Allo, for short.
Not this
- Allosexual just means normal
- So you are obsessed with sex
- Nobody needs a word for that
- Allosexual is an insult
Questions people actually ask
What does allosexual mean?
Experiencing sexual attraction in the ordinary way, as opposed to being on the asexual spectrum.
Is allosexual an insult?
No. It is a neutral counterpart to asexual, in the same way cisgender is the counterpart to transgender.
Does allosexual mean having a high sex drive?
No. It marks the presence of sexual attraction, not its intensity or frequency.