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Definitions courtesy of Wikipedia
THE FOLLOWING DEFINITIONS ARE PROVIDED TO ASSIST YOU WITH FILLING OUT THE EXTENDED MATCH PORTION OF YOUR PROFILE.
BI-SEXUAL
Bisexuality is a sexual orientation which refers to the romantic and/or sexual attraction of individuals to other individuals of both their own and the opposite gender or sex. Most bisexuals are not equally attracted to men and women and may even shift between states of finding either sex exclusively attractive over the course of time.[1] However, some bisexuals are and remain fairly static in their level of attraction throughout their adult life.
GAY
In contemporary usage, the adjective gay usually describes a person's sexual orientation, being the colloquial term for homosexual. While gay applies in some contexts to all homosexual people, the term lesbian is sex-specific: it is used exclusively to describe homosexual women. Sometimes gay is used to refer only to men.
HETEROSEXUAL
Heterosexuality is sexual or romantic attraction between opposite sexes, and is the most common sexual orientation among humans. The adjective heterosexual is used for intimate relationships and/or sexual relations between male and female individuals, who may or may not identify themselves as straight. Heterosexuality, as an identifier, is usually contrasted with homosexuality and bisexuality. The term straight is used predominantly to refer to self-identified heterosexuals of either sex. Unlike lesbian, there is no sex-specific term that is only used for self-identified heterosexual females.
LESBIAN
A lesbian is a woman who is romantically and sexually attracted only to other women.[1][2] Women who are attracted to both women and men are more often referred to as bisexual. An individual's self-identification might not correspond with her behaviour, and may be expressed with either, both, or neither of these words.
TRANSGENDERED
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies that diverge from the normative gender role (woman or man) commonly, but not always, assigned at birth, as well as the role traditionally held by society.
A transgender individual may have characteristics that are normally associated with a particular gender, identify elsewhere on the traditional gender continuum, or exist outside of it as "other," "agender," "intergender," or "third gender". Transgender people may also identify as bigender, or along several places on either the traditional transgender continuum, or the more encompassing continuums which have been developed in response to the significantly more detailed studies done in recent years
PANSEXUAL
- Someone who is attracted to people regardless of their gender, sex or sexual orientation.
- A person who displays their sexuality in many different ways.
- Someone open to many different sexual activities.
Examples: Pansexuals differ from bisexuals in that they are attracted to not just men and women, but also transgendered, androgynous and gender fluid persons.
POLYAMOROUS
Long-term, romantically committed, multiple partner relationship
TRANSVESTITE
Today transvestism is still applied mostly to male-bodied persons. However, some researchers never stopped using the term transvestism for female-bodied persons, and recently some groups of female-bodied transvestites have started to use the term to describe themselves, although the term "drag king" is more common.
There are many different usages and meanings of the term transvestism. Some of them clearly contradict each other; the only thing they have in common is
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They describe a behavior of people dressing in clothes of a gender that is different from the gender they were assigned (usually at birth) or the gender they are living in. It does imply some inner motive for cross-dressing, but does not specify this motive.
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They (usually) exclude transvestic fetishism and they usually do not include transsexualism, or transgender people who completely change their gender role.
The word transvestism therefore should be explained when used; most of the time using cross-dressing will avoid much potential confusion. If encountered, it is necessary to find out which particular meaning it has in the context in which it is presented. In scientific literature, cross-dressing has mostly replaced transvestism.
BDSM
BDSM is any of a number of related patterns of human sexual behavior. The major subgroupings are described in the abbreviation "BDSM" itself:
Many of the specific practices in BDSM are those which, if performed in neutral or nonsexual contexts, could be considered unpleasant, undesirable or abusive. For example, while pain, physical restraint and servitude are traditionally inflicted on persons against their will and to their detriment, in BDSM, these activities are engaged in with the mutual consent of the participants, and typically for mutual enjoyment.
This emphasis on informed consent and safety is also known as SSC (safe, sane and consensual), though others prefer the term RACK (risk-aware consensual kink), believing that it places more emphasis on acknowledging the fact that all activities are potentially risky. There is discussion and dispute about the meaning or intent of the terms, but in essence, both terms refer to all participants acknowledging and accepting some level of risk.
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BDSM may or may not involve sex of any kind.
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How dominant or submissive a person may be in their regular life does not necessarily indicate which role they will play in a scene.
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A couple may engage in BDSM sexuality with an otherwise non-Dominant/submissive relationship dynamic.
CROSS-DRESSING
Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothing commonly associated with another gender within a particular society. Cross-dressing is a behaviour which runs significantly counter to those norms and therefore can be seen as a type of transgender behaviour. It does not, however, necessarily indicate transgender identity; a person who cross-dresses does not always identify as having a gender different from that assigned at birth.
The term cross-dressing denotes an action or a behaviour without attributing or proposing causes for that behaviour. Some people automatically connect cross-dressing behaviour to transgender identity or sexual, fetishist, and homosexual behaviour, but the term cross-dressing itself does not imply any motives. However, referring to a person as a cross-dresser suggests that their cross-dressing behaviour is habitual and may be taken to mean that the person identifies as transgendered. The term cross-dresser should therefore be used with care to avoid causing misunderstanding or offence.
Swinging, sometimes referred to as the swinging lifestyle, is "non-monogamous sexual activity", treated much like any other social activity, that can be experienced as a couple.
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