Summary of this article
Outlook provides a glossary to clarify these identities, helping to normalise conversations around love, attraction, and sexual orientation
Articles explore complex questions and highlight nuanced approaches to relationships today.
Modern love in India is evolving beyond traditional norms, encompassing diverse identities and orientations
Love comes in many forms, and in its ever-evolving expressions, humans are constantly redefining what intimacy means. In its August 2023 issue titled Radical Love, Outlook explored a spectrum of identities and orientations, including Polyamory, Inter-sexual, Neuro-sexual, Kink-positive, Asexual, Greysexual, Allosexual, PanAroAce, and Demisexual, to understand how Indians are navigating relationships as traditional structures of love continue to shift.
We experience love in different ways: some sexual, some not; some romantic, some not. Some couples prefer clearly defined relationships, while others keep things fluid. Attraction can be directed toward conventionally recognised genders, or it can extend across a wider, more nuanced spectrum. Living in this century, many of us are familiar with the LGBTQIA+ community, yet the technical terms used within it often remain unclear. To help bridge that gap, Outlook offers a glossary of commonly used terms—many increasingly popularised by Gen Z.
Shreya Basak and Sharmita Kar explain how humans define relationships today: some identify as asexual, others as bisexual, and a few as Allosexual. Their piece provides insight into the diversity of modern intimacy.
Questions about love often extend to marriage too. Can a marriage be consummated without sexual interaction? Abhik Bhattacharya explores the asexual dilemma in love and romance, clarifying that identifying as asexual does not necessarily mean a person has no sexual desires at all.
