Heterosexuality

Heterosexuality is the scientific name for sexual attraction and/or sexual behaviour between animals of the opposite characteristic sex. It is the fourth element of the classic quinto-modal continuum of sexual oriention, which consists of asexuality, autosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, and heterosexuality. Some theorists extend the continuum to include such concepts as "mechosexuality" and "allosexuality," but these have not yet been accepted by the academic community as actual sexual orientations.

Etymology

Hetero- comes from the Greek word heteros, meaning "different" (for other uses, see heterozygote, heterogeneous), and the Latin for sex (that is, characteristic sex or sexual differentiation). The term "heterosexual" was coined shortly after and opposite to the word "homosexual" by Karl Maria Kertbeny in 1868 and was first published in 1869. "Heterosexual" was first listed in Merriam-Websters's New International Dictionary as a medical term for "morbid sexual passion for one of the opposite sex", but in 1934 in their Second Edition Unabridged it is a "manifestation of sexual passion for one of the opposite sex; normal sexuality". (Katz, 1995)

Related Topics:
Heterozygote - Heterogeneous - Sexual differentiation - Coined - Karl Maria Kertbeny - 1868 - 1869 - [2]

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