One of the mailing lists I belong to (though I don’t chime in terribly often) is that of the Utilikilts Yahoo! Group. For the past few days there’s been an interesting discussion of sexuality. Over the course of the discussion, I just stumbled across a new term that I’d not heard before, but that I like a lot.
> > My own experience has been a interesting adventure. I had always been devout hetero. I like men. I like the way they feel, the way they smell (most of the time). I like the masculineness (if that’s a word) of a man. I like to feel feminine in his big hands and strong arms. I like sex with a man. That being said, I discovered in the last couple of years that an occational romp with another woman is just plain fun. My husband says “For instant lesbian, just add taquilla”… that’s me, but does that make me gay or just a horny drunk? > > yes. although the term i’ve heard bandied about is heteroflexible.
Heteroflexible. What a wonderful word — especially for someone who’s comfortable self-identifying as 85-90% straight. Apparently this isn’t a new word, either, though it’s the first time I’d run across it.
Here’s Word Spy’s definition:
> heteroflexible (het.ur.oh.FLEKS.uh.bul) n. A heterosexual person who is open to relationships with people of the same sex. —adj. Also: hetero-flexible, heteroflex.
-—heteroflexibility n.
“Transitions” by Beastie Boys, The from the album Ill Communication (1994, 2:31).
Michael Hanscom
Tim Who?
Patrick Sand
CJ
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I’ve always heard/used the term bicurious in those instances.
Yeah — that’s one I’ve known for a long time, but I like ‘heteroflexible’ a lot more. But then, I see them as two separate states, too.
‘Bi-curious’ seems to me like someone who might have thought about experimenting a bit, and maybe they’ll eventually get around to it (and, in the case of many of the ‘bi-curious’ people I’ve met, often it seems to be more of a “trendy/everyone else is doing it/my boyfriend will like me more if I do this” thing than having any actual thought behind it). It’s a potential, not an actual.
‘Heteroflexible’ — besides just being a fun word — comes across to me as someone who’s a little more secure in their standpoint. It’s more likely that they’ve done a little exploring and found that while it’s not necessarily their forté, it’s not something that they’re entirely opposed to, either, given the right person/people and right circumstances.
At least, that’s how I see the two. Not incompatible, and one may lead to the other, but not equivalent, either.