Quoisensual (also called WTFsensual, Whatsensual, Quoisensorial, WTFsensorial, or Whatsensorial) is a part of the asensual spectrum. It is a term associated with challenging one's own sensual orientation as not personally helpful. It also can include not knowing one's sensual orientation or not wanting to define one's sensual orientation.
Quoisensual experiences may include:
- Being unsure what sensual attraction is, and therefore being unsure if one has experienced it or not
- Finding the concept of sensuality/sensual attraction to be inaccessible, inapplicable, or nonsensical
- Being unable to understand sensual attraction as a concept or feeling
- Disidentifying with the concept of sensual attraction, either as a social construct or as something potentially applicable to oneself
- Questioning sensuality for such a long time that the questioning itself becomes the sensuality, rather than a path toward any other identity
- Having a difficulty distinguishing sensual attraction from other types of attraction
Quoisensuality is often considered an sen-spec identity, though not all quoisensuals identify with the asensual spectrum. Quoisensuality can more accurately be understood as a disidentification with the sensual/asensual binary, which may or may not overlap with an sen-spec identity.
History and Etymology
The term quoiromantic was first coined by Tumblr user Epochryphal (Cor) in 2012, based on quoi, the French word for "what."
Quoisensual was coined by FANDOM user Rat0Meat, inspired by quoiromantic and quoisexual, on May 29,2021.
Flag and Symbolism
In 2015, Cor proposed cos own flag design for quoi identities, including quoigender, quoisexual, and quoiromantic: four lavender question marks, rotated in a ring to share a single dot, as if spinning in a circle. This design was overlaid on a cool grey background in a house-shape, instead of the traditional rectangular flag. The choice of question marks as a symbol references the questioning basis of quoi as an identity term.
More recently, some simplified designs have been proposed inspired by the nontraditional flag shape idea, using a triangular flag shape instead, with the intent of being easier to physically reproduce. Like Cor's design, these designs exhibit a ring of question mark symbols sharing a single dot, except that the number of question marks is three instead of four. These designs have been proposed in both a green and a lavender version, in reference to previous designs. The green version is intended for quoi orientation identities, specifically. The lavender version is intended for quoi identities as a whole, as with Cor's design, "to honor its intentional vagueness." This leaves it open to use for other types of quoi identities, such as quoigender.