[Edit] after posting this I realized that furry is not a sexual orientation, but more an identity. So sorry for reinforcing misconceptions about flurries.

  • southsamurai@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    Sexual preference = kinks, positions, etc

    Sexual orientation = the spectrum with hetero and homosexuality at either end, and adjacent categories such as asexuality.

    Identity = a presentation of a social aspect, or the internal self-label for such things.

    In other words, furry world be an identity, with yiff being a sexual preference.

    First caveat: sexual preference used to be what sexual orientation is, but as society shifted to understanding that one’s sexual attractions to the gender spectrum aren’t actually voluntary, they’re inborn, preference was no longer applicable. As such, sexual preference fell out of use for that, but it’s still sometimes used as language catches up. Of more import for this comment is that the use of the term for sexual activities that are preferred is fairly new, I’ve only run across it in the last two years.

    Second caveat: these aren’t dictionary definitions. Dictionaries take longer than people to codify usage changes. These are my attempt at codifying the definitions I’ve seen in the wild, and can’t be taken as authoritative, only as an attempt at clarification with all this taken into account.

    • Pippipartner@discuss.tchncs.deOP
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      2 months ago

      Sounds about right. I never liked sexual orientation as a term, because it focuses on the gender binary like with the Kinsey scale. There isn’t a good translation for it, but I like the German word Begehren more. Translating to desire and meaning “the person idea, or thing you desire”, leaving it more open to non binary and “orientations” like asexual.

      • southsamurai@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months ago

        Yeah, orientation is a bit off, but if it’s used in the sense of “finding the direction”, it makes more sense. I still would have picked something like intrinsic attraction as the term, since it runs a bit closer to how things seem to work.