Heteroflexible: What Does Heteroflexible Mean?

Heteroflexible is a type of sexual orientation that describes a person who has primarliy heterosexual attraction but also some interest in people of the same gender. A heteroflexible person may also be considered mostly straight because of their primary attraction to the opposite gender. In contrast, a homoflexible person is someone who primarily has sexual attraction to the same gender.

The term “heteroflexible” most likely dates back the early 2000s. While the word “heteroflexible” may be somewhat new, the concept of sexual fluidity dates back to the creation of the Kinsey Scale in 1948. This was one of the first scientific attempts by a sex therapist to record and identify sexual fluidity using a person’s sexual behaviors or desire for sexual encounters. Alfred Kinsey found that there were more bisexual men and bisexual women than he thought and his findings were a main contributor to breaking down heteronormativity in society and working toward nonbinary identity labels.

Some in the LGBTQ+ community prefer the term “bi-curious” over heteroflexible as people of this sexual identity mostly feel attraction to people of the same gender and might prefer not to act on their interest in those of the same gender.

Other critics claim that the term is a type of bi-erasure or biphobia as some heteroflexible men or heteroflexible women are simply avoiding identifying as bisexual people.

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