Polysexuality, also spelled plysexuality or polisexuality, is the sexual attraction to many, but not all, genders. For example, a polysexual person could be attracted to all genders except men, or be attracted to exclusively non-binary people, genderfluid people and man-aligned people. Polysexuality implies that one is attracted to more than 2 genders. This can be any number of genders, up to all genders besides one.
Polysexuality should not be confused with polyamory, the capacity to be in a relationship with multiple people at once, nor should it be confused with being bisexual, omnisexual or pansexual. The difference between being polysexual and being pansexual is that pansexuals experience attraction to anyone regardless of gender , while polysexuals are attracted to certain genders, but not all. The difference between being polysexual and being bi is that bisexuals are attracted to, at minimum, two genders, usually men and women, while polysexuals are attracted to many genders. Where as omnisexuals are attracted to all genders (like pan) but still take gender into account. Omnisexuals might have a preference for one gender.
The romantic equivalent to polysexual is polyromantic.
Flag
The polysexual flag has three stripes, pink, representing attraction to women, green, representing attraction to non-binary people, and blue, representing attraction to men.
The flag was created by user Samlin on Tumblr[1] in 2012. They posted a design to the blog fuckyeahpolysexuality with the caption, "I, as a poly individual, was greatly saddened that we don't have a flag...so I made one :P I made it similar to the bi and pan flags, since they're all in under the multisexual umbrella -Samlin".
The flag has since been recognizable in the LGBTQ+ community as a symbol of polysexuality.
The alternative ply flag was designed by an anonymous wiki user on October 21, 2020. It is designed to be easier on the eyes, while also maintaining most of the same meaning. In addition to the original stripe meanings, the lighter pink and blue stripes also represent a-spec ply individuals. The very light green (nearly white) stripes represents peace, as well as transgender ply individuals. It is intended to represent polyromance/polyromantic individuals, but if can be used for polysexuality as well.
Etymology
The prefix poly- comes from the Greek prefix polus, meaning 'many'.[2]