The difference between sexuality and romantic orientation is quite simple. Sexuality is defined as the sexual attraction (or lack thereof) to another person or people. This defines an attraction that is purely sexual and does not describe someone’s romantic attraction. Romantic orientation is, essentially, who you’d date. It describes the gender of person who you may be into dating – who you’d be romantically attracted to – who you’d love in a romantic way.
An example of romantic orientation versus sexuality might be that ‘bisexual’ is a label referring to someone’s sexuality, whereas ‘biromantic’ is a term referring to someone’s romantic orientation.
People’s sexualities can differ from their romantic orientation. This can occur when someone still experiences romantic attraction, but isn’t interested in a sexual relationship. This is known as being ‘asexual’ – or, ‘ace’.
