Androsexual

Androsexual is an emerging term.

Androsexual is a term that has recently emerged. Although the term may be growing in usage, and is significant and well-sourced enough to warrant inclusion on this wiki, it may still be relatively unknown outside of the platform or community where it originated. The exact definition and name may not have stabilized, and may change significantly as more people identify with it.

Androsexual
The androsexual flag
Alternative name	Masexual
Classification	Sexual orientation
Specifics
Attracted to	Men, males, and/or masculinity
Related terms
Associated romanticism	Androromantic
Different from	Gay, straight

Androsexual is a sexual orientation where a person is attracted to men, males, and/or masculinity in general. Other prefixes may be used in place of andro- to denote the same range of attraction, such as ma-.

While androsexual can be used to denote both sexual and romantic attraction, androromantic is a label used to specifically denote romantic attraction to men, males, and/or masculinity. Since ma- is an alternative prefix to andro- in general, maromantic is an alternative term to androromantic.

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Etymology

The prefix andro- comes from the Greek word for "man". An alternative term for androsexual is "androphilia", which combines andro- with the suffix -philia. This means "love of", and thus androphilia means "love of men".

For androsexual, the -sexual suffix is often used to indicate sexual attraction in particular, while the -romantic suffix for androromantic is used to indicate specifically romantic attraction.

Community

History

An early mention of androsexual was in 1997, from a discussion on Usenet concerning a user who transitioned and was exploring her sexuality.

Flag

The androromantic flag

A Masc-/Andro- flag was available online as early as April 23, 2016, on the Pride-Flags DeviantArt account. Its creator and color meanings are unknown. A flag specifically for androromantic was made available online as early as May 10, 2016, on the same account as the androsexual flag. Its creator and color meanings are also unknown.

Distinction

Gay

Main article: Gay

The term gay is defined as someone who is attracted to the same gender as themselves, usually specifically men who are attracted to other men. In some cases, people may see androsexual as being the same as gay. However, the term is different because it denotes attraction without specifying the gender of the person using the label. Hence, both straight women and gay men, as well as non-binary people, can use the label androsexual for themselves if they do not wish to specify their gender for whatever reason.

Straight

Main article: Straight

Also known as heterosexual, straight is a label that is usually defined as someone who is attracted to "the other binary gender" than their own, such as a straight man being attracted only to women. Similar to the distinction from the term gay, androsexual is different from the term straight due to not including gender in its definition of attraction.

Controversy

Some people may misuse the term androsexual to mean exclusive attraction to penises instead of men and/or masculinity. This is due to how some people may have a strong association between penises and the andro- prefix. As a result the prefix ma-, as in masexual, was proposed as a "more inclusive alternative" to using andro- for this type of attraction.

Perceptions and discrimination

This section focuses more on the specific kinds of discrimination and oppression that these people may face. Examples would be mentioning systematic transphobia and non-binary erasure on the page for agender, mentioning rates of mental health issues in this group, etc.

Media

This section should be used to elaborate on the portrayal and representation of this identity in various forms of media, which can include a listing or links to various artists or movies, series, etc. Subheadings like Film, Television, Literature, and Music should be used where appropriate.

Resources

Here you can place useful resources relevant for the described topic.