Reuters
- Sexual identity is, according to sexuality educator, writer, and consultant Jamie LeClaire, the "gender that you are attracted to, or if you are interested in sex at all."
- Beyond heterosexual and gay, there's a wide variety of sexual identities and terms people may identify with.
- Sexual identity itself is a relatively new construct historically - and it's a contentious subject with some scholars. However, it can also offer a sense of community, particularly with the rise of social media.
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Recently, singer-songwriter Mark Ronson walked back claims that he identifies as sapiosexual.
The "sapiosexual" identity, which itself has garnered its fair share of controversy, is defined by Merriam-Webster as "sexually attracted to highly intelligent people."
"I do not consider myself part of any marginalized community and I apologize if anybody misunderstood or took offense to it," Ronson told Patrick Doyle at Rolling Stone. Ronson told Rolling Stone he identifies as heterosexual.
Jamie LeClaire, a sexuality educator, writer, and consultant, told Business Insider that they do not consider sapiosexual a sexual identity.
"It's basically just a preference for smart people, and I don't really identify with that being a sexual orientation," LeClaire said.
Rather, he broadly defined sexual identity, or orientation, as the "gender that you are attracted to, or if you are interested in sex at all."
In the United States, the LGBT population - and the mainstream acceptance of this community - is only growing. Gallup estimated that the percentage of Americans who identify as LGBT was 4.5% in 2017, while 8.1% of millennials self-identified as LGBT.
This rising awareness, coupled with the reach of social media and ever-increasing visibility, has led to more mainstream recognition of different sexual identities. For instance, sexual identities that are widely known are heterosexual, often known as straight, or gay.
But even within those categories there's a variety of different terms people identify with.
Read more: These 2 maps show where America's LGBT families are thriving