Omnisexual (often shortened to omni) is an orientation describing someone who is attracted to all genders, but still has a noticeable preference between genders. For example, someone who is omnisexual could be attracted to all genders, with a preference for non-binary individuals.
Omnisexuality differs from terms such as pansexual, as pansexuality specifically states that gender is not a factor in the individual's attraction, whereas an omnisexual individual does consider gender to be a factor in how they feel attraction.
The term is also often confused with bisexual. Whilst omnisexual is under the bisexual and multisexual umbrella, and someone who fits the description of omnisexual could still consider themselves bisexual or multisexual, the terms are all still differentiated. Every omnisexual individual can also fit the definition of bisexual and multisexual, but not every bisexual or multisexual individual fits the definition of omnisexual.
The romantic equivalent is Omniromantic.
History & Coining[]
The word omnisexuality seems to first appear in the 1959 beat poet Lawrence Lipton's The Holy Barbarians, however, it was not described in the context of the current definition until a 1984 text titled Sexual Choices: An Introduction to Human Sexuality. This text described omnisexuality as "a state of attraction to all sexes". It also stated that some researchers believe that every individual is born omnisexual before developing their sexual attraction into the labels of homosexual, heterosexual, or other orientations.
The term spread even further in the early 1990s as M. Jimmie Killingsworth undertook an analysis of poet, Walt Whitman. In Killingsworth's study, he found that Whitman had a general omnisexual character throughout his work The Leaves of Grass. In the 2010s, The Atlantic noted that his poetry expresses sexuality towards all genders, sometimes even the sea or the Earth.
Omnisexual was a common message board term in the 2000s. The knowledge of this term was boosted even further when several celebrities came out as pansexual. The media made several non-monosexual terms known in the mainstream as that took place. Many popular articles discussed omnisexuality alongside these celebrities' pansexuality.
The prefix omni- comes from the Latin word omnis, meaning "all".
Flags[]
The omnisexual flag was designed by Pastelmemer on or before July 4th, 2015. It is unknown if the colors have any meaning, but a purposed meaning is as follows: The light pink and light blue represents the gender spectrum. Pink represents attraction to femininity and women. Blue color represents attraction to masculinity and men. The deep purple (sometimes depicted as black) represents attraction to people whose gender identity falls outside of the named categories.
The fifth alternate flag was coined by Cryptocrew at Hayden000s request on January 16th of 2021 and was first published on a post one day later. Dark blue represents men, mid-blue represents masculine genders, light blue represents non-masculine genders that have masculine presentation (such as azurgirls); dark green represents the agender/genderless spectrum, yellowish green represents demigenders, and yellow represents non-demigenders and non-genderless people with neutral presentation (such as a pewt man); red represents women, pale red represents feminine genders, reddish-pink represents non-feminine genders that have feminine presentation (such as rosboys); black represents anonbinary genders, purple represents androgynous genders, grey represents non-outherine and non-androgynous genders that present androgynously or in an amaranthian manner (such as a linproche agender person); white represents fluid genders/multigenders and people with fluid or multiple presentations; while the yellow design represents attraction and community, and a burst of love/attraction.
Another alternate flag was made on July 22nd, 2021, by FANDOM user TheNelsonSystem. It was made by an alter with tritanopia colour blindness as an exact/near-exact version of what they see the omnisexual flag as. It's very similar to the existing omnisexual flag but less hard on the eyes and more dulled down.
Resources[]
- https://lgbta.wikia.org/wiki/Omnisexual (responsible for Flag segment and some of History & Coining)
- https://archive.org/stream/holybarbarians001288mbp/holybarbarians001288mbp_djvu.txt
- https://books.google.com/books/about/Sexual_choices.html?id=xitHAAAAMAAJ
- https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0895769X.1991.10542654?journalCode=vanq20
- https://www.deviantart.com/pride-flags/art/Omni-543925827?q=sort%3Atime%20((omni)%20AND%20(by%3APride-Flags))&qo=34
- https://pride-color-schemes.tumblr.com/post/146921708530/omni
- http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/omnis#Latin
Alternative Flags[]
