‘Afrosexual’ identity takes hold as more people embrace term: ‘I finally feel seen’

More people are identifying as “abrosexual” as they discover the term on social media.

An afrosexual is a person whose sexuality changes over time. A person can be attracted to different genders at different times in their life or have different levels of sexual attraction.

Emma Flint discovered her community thanks to social networks.

“It wasn’t until I was reading the Instagram page of Zoe Stoller, a US-based creator, educator and social worker who seeks to improve the visibility of the LGBTQ+ community, that I saw the term abrosexuality for the first time,” said Flint. wrote in a recent Metro essay.

“You know in the cartoons when a light bulb appears over their heads? That’s how I felt when I read their post. Finally, I feel seen.”

She shared that being lesbian one day and then bisexual the next caused some people to question or doubt her claims she had previously written about her identity.

But finally finding a word to describe her sexual identity at 30 gave her a sense of confidence.

“I’m not nervous about my sexuality anymore because it makes sense to me, and in the end, that’s all that really matters,” Flint said.

Those who identify as Afrosexual can transition between heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual and asexual.

Afrosexuality is often described as the gender equivalent of sexuality, but it should not go hand in hand.

Gender fluidity is how someone identifies, while sexual fluidity describes a person’s sexual interest.

“There is no universal data, personality trait or physical aesthetic that signifies a person’s sexuality, and this is as true of Afrosexuality as it is of any other sexual orientation or gender,” queer sex researcher Nadège told Cosmopolitan.

It is different from pansexuality – sexual, romantic or emotional attraction to people of all genders, or regardless of their sex or gender identity – and polysexuality – sexual, romantic or emotional attraction to people of many genders, but not all genders – as these people are attracted to a specific gender, which simply changes.

There is no specific time frame for how long a person can or cannot be attracted to a particular gender.

The community has continued to grow in recent years as more people have learned about the term, thanks to people sharing their weird stories and letting their green, white and pink flags fly.

“It’s not talked about much, but it’s very valuable,” TikToker @lucaismagic said in a viral TikTok video announcing they identified as an abrosexual.

The video helped several other people claim the term as well.

“OML HAS A NAME???? IS THIS WHAT IT FEELS LIKE????” someone said.

“WAIT THIS IS CORRECT FOR ME THANKS FOR THIS EXPLANATION,” wrote another.