Greysexual

Greysexual or Greyasexual, (shortened to Grey Ace or Grace) is a sexual orientation on the asexual spectrum, referring to those who relate to asexuality, yet feel that there are parts of their experience that aren't fully described by the word asexual. Greysexual can be used as a specific identity, or as an umbrella term for any ace-spec identity that isn't purely asexual, including demisexual and others.

A common reason someone may identify as greysexual is that they experience sexual attraction but very infrequently. Some greysexual people may only feel sexual attraction once or twice in their life. Others may experience it more frequently, but still not as frequently as allosexual people. Some other possible greysexual experiences may include:


 * Experiencing sexual attraction infrequently.
 * Experiencing sexual attraction very weakly.
 * Experiencing sexual attraction only in specific circumstances.
 * Feeling uncertain about whether they experience sexual attraction.
 * Experiencing attraction that is only ambiguously sexual.
 * Feeling alienated from sexual attraction.
 * Otherwise relating to aspects of asexuality, even if it isn't a perfect fit.

Greyasexual can be an orientation on its own or be combined with other sexual orientations. For example, one could be greysexual and gay (grey-homosexual), meaning that when someone does experience sexual attraction it is only ever towards those of the same gender.

The romantic counterpart to greysexual is greyromantic.

History
The concept of gray-asexuality developed in the early 2000s on the AVEN forums. In 2003, an AVEN member proposed the concept of "semisexuality," naming a half-way point between being asexual and not. Later, in 2006, AVEN member KSpaz proposed the term "gray-a" to describe the "fuzzy" space in the asexual spectrum.

Symbolism
The greysexual flag was designed by Milith Rusignuolo and was via upload to Wikipedia on June 21, 2013. It was supposed to be symbolic of someone starting out with no sexual attraction, represented by purple representing asexuality, then entering a single episode of it attraction (grey to white) with white representing allosexuality from the asexual flag, and then going back to being asexual.

On December 3rd, 2020 a second greyasexual flag was coined by a user going by Angel. The darker shades represent occasional sexual attraction, the mid-way shades represent being on the ace spectrum, the lightest shades represent feeling no sexual attraction, and the white represents community.