Androsexual - meaning and definition
Alsoandrophilicandrosexualityandrophiliaattracted to men
Definition
Describes attraction to men or masculinity, without saying anything about the gender of the person who is attracted.
At a glance
- Describes attraction to men or masculinity.
- Names the direction of attraction without referring to the attracted person's own gender.
- Useful for non-binary people, for whom gay or straight may not fit.
- The related clinical term is androphilia.
- The counterpart term is gynesexual.
In detail
Androsexual, and its clinical relative androphilia, describe attraction by its target alone. This is useful for non-binary people, for whom terms such as "gay" or "straight" depend on their own gender and may not fit.
The counterpart term, for attraction to women or femininity, is gynesexual.
In a sentence
- As a non-binary person, I say androsexual because gay or straight doesn't really work for me.
- The researchers used androphilic rather than gay so their categories didn't depend on participants' own gender.
Where the word comes from
From Greek andr-, meaning man, combined with sexual.
Common questions
Why not just say gay or straight?
Gay and straight describe attraction relative to your own gender. For non-binary people that comparison may not make sense, so androsexual describes only who the attraction is towards.