Heteroromantic
Romantic attraction to people of a different gender.
Heteroromantic means being romantically attracted to people of a gender different from your own. Like homoromantic, it names only the romantic half and leaves the sexual orientation unstated.
Its main use is in combinations where the two differ. Heteroromantic asexual is the common one, and heteroromantic bisexual exists too: romantically drawn to one direction, sexually to more than one.
For someone whose orientations line up, straight covers it in one word. The term exists for the cases where it does not.
Heteroromantic is not the default with extra syllables
Naming it is the same move as naming cisgender or allosexual: giving the majority case a word so that comparisons are possible.
It also does real work in combination. Heteroromantic asexual describes something that neither straight nor asexual conveys alone.
Saying it well
Say this
- I am heteroromantic.
- Heteroromantic asexual.
- Heteroromantic and bisexual, which needs both words.
- Romantically, a different gender.
Not this
- So you are just straight
- Why complicate it
- Heteroromantic is not a real orientation
- That is the default, no word needed
Questions people actually ask
What does heteroromantic mean?
Being romantically attracted to people of a different gender from your own.
Is heteroromantic just straight?
It names only the romantic half. Straight implies both romantic and sexual orientation.
Why would someone use it?
Mostly when their romantic and sexual orientations differ, as in heteroromantic asexual.