Autosexual

Autosexual describes someone who experiences attraction towards themself. There are many ways in which someone can be autosexual, some of which are:

Having a hard time responding to someone's sexual touch, but being able to/comfortable with self pleasing like masturbation
Feeling little to no attraction to others but feeling attraction to yourself
Experiencing fantasies about sexual interaction with yourself
Feeling an attraction to yourself more than the 'norm'

Modifiers

> Autoromantic is the romantic attraction counterpart

> Autoamorous describes someone who desires to date themself and others at the same time

> Auto-Bisexual refers to someone who is attracted to two or more genders aswell as themselves.

> Autoflux describes a fluctuation in Autosexual/Autoromantic attraction

> Autorose describes being both Autosexual and Autoromantic

> Autoflexible describes being Autosexual and/or Autoromantic but can experience attraction to others occasionally

History & Coining

Autosexual was first used as a very specific term by Bernard Apfelbaum, a PHD graduate in clinical psychology in his work on the book "Principles and Practice of Sex Therapy", he considered it as a sexual abnormality. Often autosexuals do not seek out sexual relationships as it is simply a way of life and how they feel about others, it is strictly the attraction to yourself and is not a psychological or sexual abnormality. It was once considered to be a narcissistic trait, mischaracterizing both NPD & autosexuality, but is no longer associated with narcissistic traits.

The prefix comes from the Greek term 'auto', meaning 'self'.

Flags

The first flag was made by a user going by aturinfortheworse on an unspecified site.

The second flag was coined by a user going by Anamika on November 21st, 2020. It is based on the original flags colors. The shades of blue stand for self compassion and self care, the heart stands for self love, and the grey stands for being ace-spec.

Resources

https://sexuality.fandom.com/wiki/Autosexuality

https://lgbta.wikia.org/wiki/Autosexual

https://www.deviantart.com/savvyred/art/Autosexual-Pride-Flag-630696754

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/85b0bae2-b9fb-4358-9519-4d68aafaf49c