What are androphilia and gynephilia?
Q: What are androphilia and gynephilia?
A: Androphilia and gynephilia are terms used in behavioral science to describe sexual orientation. Androphilia refers to attraction to a man or masculinity, while gynephilia refers to attraction to a woman or femininity.
Q: How do these terms differ from the gender binary?
A: These terms offer an alternative to the gender binary in homosexual and heterosexual, as they describe the focus of attraction without crediting a sex assignment or gender identity to the person.
Q: What is ambiphilia?
A: Ambiphilia, or bisexuality, is the combination of androphilia and gynephilia, meaning attraction to both masculinity and femininity.
Q: How can these terms help to understand people between the West and the East?
A: These terms will skirt any difficulty to understand people between the West and the East, as they do not rely on cultural understandings of gender.
Q: Do these terms apply only to cisgender individuals?
A: No, these terms can also describe intersex and transgender people.
Q: Is there a need to credit a person's gender identity or sex assignment when using androphilia or gynephilia?
A: No, these terms describe the focus of attraction with no need to credit a sex assignment or gender identity to the person.
Q: Can these terms replace the labels of homosexuality and heterosexuality?
A: These terms do not replace homosexuality and heterosexuality but offer alternative language to describe sexual orientations that are not reliant on gender binary assumptions.
