ceterosexual

[prettygoodword]

Okay, this is a recent coinage, and consensus on the meaning and usage is still being worked out. I'll define it with the most general sense, followed by the caveats:


ceterosexual (SET-er-oh-SEK-shoo-uhl) - n., someone who is attracted to non-binary people.


Points under debate include whether the sexual/romantic attraction is exclusively to non-binary people (and based on how heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual is used, the trend seems to be towards that usage, though note pansexual), whether the attraction can also be to transgender people (I've no sense of the trending here), and whether anyone can be ceterosexual or only non-binary people (one concern of the former is that it might suggest/encourage fetishization). Formerly called skoliosexual, which was coined in 2010, but that's since been deprecated because the Ancient Greek root skolio- means crooked/bent and so, yeah, no -- ceterosexual was coined as a replacement in 2013 from Latin ceterus, the remainder/the rest (which shows up in English in its plural neutral form as "et cetera"). Other alternate terms have been proposed (including the fun-to-say enbysexual, after NB for nonbinary), but personally, I really like the root meaning of ceterosexual.


And that's the week of long 'uns -- back to the regular mix next week.

---L.

Comments

[fluffybeaver]

I'm already confused about different "-sexuals".

[prettygoodword]

Heterosexual = attracted to people of the other binary gender from your own
Homosexual = attracted to people of the same binary gender as your own
Bisexual = attracted to people of either binary gender

All three (especially the first two) do not apply to someone who is not one of the binary genders, nor do they cover being attracted to people who are non-binary. The latter problem can be partially patched with:

Pansexual = attracted to people of any gender

-- or more literally, of all genders. But that only covers one possible permuation. Ceterosexual is a patch for some of those other cases.

[lokifan]

I'd note that actually, bisexual's been used to mean "attracted to own gender and other genders" - e.g. not necessarily binary - for solidly over 30 years. And certainly in how I've seen it used, it's a very long time since I saw it used in any binary sense.

[prettygoodword]

I’ve seen it used with this intention and also complaints from non-binary people (and people identifying as pansexual) that it’s exclusionary.

[lokifan]

Sure, but I just wanted to note that bisexual people tend to disagree with that definition (again, there are tons of quotes about how "bi isn't binary" in bi texts going back decades, and it's a constant cry from those of us who identify as bi) since you said it without caveats.

[prettygoodword]

Fair point.

[lokifan]

Interesting! I hadn't heard this one before. Useful.

[prettygoodword]

It is!