Gender & Sexuality dictionary
ceterosexual
[ set-er-oh-sek-shoo-uhl ]
ºÚÁÏÍø does ceterosexual mean?
Someone who is ceterosexual is a nonbinary person who is primarily sexually attracted to other nonbinary people.
Where does ceterosexual come from?
The cetero– in ³¦±ð³Ù±ð°ù´Ç²õ±ð³æ³Ü²¹±ôÌýis based on the Latin ceterus, “the other, the rest.” You may recognize this word in the phrase et cetera, literally meaning “the rest” and abbreviated as etc. The sense of “other” in ceterosexual isn’t meant to be dismissive or offensive. It is meant to include people whose gender identity does not fit into the male/female binary.
The term ceterosexual was first used around 2013 on the online art community DeviantArt.
While some early instances of ceterosexual use the term as a synonym for the older term skoliosexual, other early uses specifically note that the term is meant as a replacement for skoliosexual. Proponents of using the term ceterosexual rather than skoliosexual cite two issues with the older term:
First, skoliosexual has been used to describe attraction to nonbinary people, regardless of the gender identity of that person themselves. Some in the LGBTQ+ community believe that, because you cannot identify a nonbinary person without learning their gender identity, skoliosexuality stereotypes the presentation of nonbinary genders or fetishizes them. Second, the skolio- in skoliosexual is based on a Greek root meaning “bent” or “divergent,” which has negative connotations.
Examples of ceterosexual
Who uses ceterosexual?
Use of the term ceterosexual is in flux. It always best to respect a person’s own self-identification (and their right to talk or not talk about that).
Some people use ceterosexual as a non-problematic synonym for skoliosexual. Others see ceterosexual is just as problematic as skoliosexual, especially when both terms are used to describe the attraction of cisgender people to non-cisgender people.
Others use ceterosexual as preferred alternative to skoliosexual, an empowering way of addressing nonbinary gaps in the English language. Several LGBTQ+ resources, including the 2017 Bisexual Resource Center handbook, specifically define ³¦±ð³Ù±ð°ù´Ç²õ±ð³æ³Ü²¹±ôÌýas the sexual orientation of people who identify as nonbinary to others who identify as nonbinary.
Gods, thank you, thank you! I'm ceterosexual and people say it's transphobic… I'M LITERALLY A TRANS PERSON
— LIPSTICK TOMBOY 💛💜🖤 (@rileynoodle)
A related term is ceteromantic, which refers to romantic attraction to a nonbinary person. Like bisexual/bisexuality or heterosexual/heterosexuality, ceterosexual takes the noun form ceterosexuality. Some people in the nonbinary community may used the shortened term cetero.
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of ceterosexual like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of ceterosexual that will help our users expand their word mastery.