Demisexuality: personality over pictures

NO, WE'RE NOT TALKING ABOUT CLASSICAL DEMIGODS OR ARTIST DEMI LOVATO. WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THE MISREPRESENTED SEXUAL ORIENTATION WHERE PERSONALITY LITERALLY MATTERS MORE THAN LOOKS

- SAADIQAH SCHROEDER.

MISTAKEN IDENTITIES

At this stage in our lives, many of us are experimenting with our sexuality and discovering that what we may have been attracted to before (when we were younger) is completely different to now. With the expansion of the LGBTQIA+ community, many of us feel a lot more comfortable in our skins and are starting to better understand our feelings. But within this vast community of genders, orientations and identities comes a whole lot of misunderstanding too. This is especially true for those identifying as demisexual.

Demisexuality often gets confused with asexuality (not having sexual attraction to others), but, on the contrary, demisexuals do have sexual attraction to other people... but only under certain circumstances. According to a 2022 sociological study, demisexuality is often defined as a part of the ace (shorthand for asexuality) spectrum, or as the term 'grey asexuality'/ 'grey sexuality' because it blurs the binaries of gender and sexuality.

Back in 2006 when the term 'demisexuality' was first coined, internet users took to the Asexuality Visibility and Education Network (AVEN) forum to express how the term 'asexual' didn't fully characterise their experiences. And there is enough evidence to validate the distinction.

SO... WHAT IS IT?