Editing Romantic orientation (section)

{{short description|Classification of a person's romantic attraction towards others}}
{{use mdy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{use American English|date=April 2020}}
{{Sexual orientation}}

{{Distinguish|Romantic friendship}}
'''Romantic orientation''', also called '''affectional orientation''', is the classification of the [[sex]] or [[gender]] which a person experiences [[romantic attraction]] towards or is likely to have a [[romantic relationship]] with. The term is used alongside the term "[[sexual orientation]]", as well as being used alternatively to it, based upon the perspective that [[sexual attraction]] is only a single component of [[Interpersonal attraction|a larger concept]].<ref>Crethar, H. C. & Vargas, L. A. (2007). ''Multicultural intricacies in professional counseling.'' In J. Gregoire & C. Jungers (Eds.), The counselor’s companion: What every beginning counselor needs to know. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. {{ISBN|0-8058-5684-6}}. p.61.</ref>

For example, although a [[pansexuality|pansexual]] person may feel sexually attracted to people regardless of gender, the person may experience romantic attraction and intimacy, for example, with women only.

For [[Asexuality|asexual]] people, romantic orientation is often considered a more useful measure of attraction than sexual orientation.<ref name="Richards and Barker">{{cite book|first1=Christina|last1=Richards|first2=Meg|last2=Barker|title=Sexuality and Gender for Mental Health Professionals: A Practical Guide|isbn=978-1-4462-9313-3|publisher=[[SAGE Publications|SAGE]]|year=2013|pages=124–127|access-date=July 3, 2014|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uSiXAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT124|archive-date=July 6, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230706223115/https://books.google.com/books?id=uSiXAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT124|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Cerankowski and Milks">{{cite book|first1=Karli June|last1=Cerankowski|first2=Megan|last2=Milks|title=Asexualities: Feminist and Queer Perspectives|isbn=978-1-134-69253-8|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=2014|pages=89–93|access-date=July 3, 2014|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zLgTAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA89|archive-date=July 6, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230706223122/https://books.google.com/books?id=zLgTAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA89|url-status=live}}</ref>

The relationship between sexual attraction and romantic attraction is still under debate.<ref name=":0"/><ref name=":1">{{cite journal |last1=Van Houdenhove |first1=Ellen |last2=Gijs |first2=Luk |last3=T'Sjoen |first3=Guy |last4=Enzlin |first4=Paul |title=Asexuality: A Multidimensional Approach |journal=The Journal of Sex Research |date=24 July 2015 |volume=52 |issue=6 |pages=669–678 |doi=10.1080/00224499.2014.898015 |pmid=24750031 |s2cid=35875780 }}</ref> Sexual and romantic attractions are often studied in conjunction. Even though studies of sexual and romantic spectrums are shedding light onto this under-researched subject, much is still not fully understood.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hammack |first1=Phillip L. |last2=Frost |first2=David M. |last3=Hughes |first3=Sam D. |title=Queer Intimacies: A New Paradigm for the Study of Relationship Diversity |journal=The Journal of Sex Research |date=13 June 2019 |volume=56 |issue=4–5 |pages=556–592 |doi=10.1080/00224499.2018.1531281 |pmid=30362833 |s2cid=53102365 |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/285899t4 }}</ref>