Empathysexual

**Empathysexual** is a sexuality trait. It means someone who experiences sexual attraction when they recognize that another person is feeling sexual attraction. It is basically a "mirror effect"..

Empathysexual is not a sexual orientation on its own, it is combined with orientations and other sexual aspects. For example, one could be empathysexual and straight, meaning that when one does experience sexual attraction, it's exclusively towards individuals of the "opposite" gender, caused by recognizing the sexual attraction that the other person is experiencing.

In the asexuality spectrum, an example of **empathysexual** that is more limited in scope is **Reciprosexual**, meaning someone who does not experience sexual attraction unless they know that the other individual they have a strong relationship with is sexually attracted to them first, at that moment.

In the broader sexual spectrum, sexual empathy affects women more than men. The February 2, 2023, article "**Women are more likely to identify as bisexual - can research into sexual arousal tell us why?**", published online by **The Conversation**, highlights the fact that a far higher percentage of women than men experience feelings that can cause them to label themselves as bisexual or pansexual. The article indicates that the latest studies have shown that this is likely to be caused by the high levels of empathy some people *(more often women)* experience. In this case, it causes them to feel a sexual attraction that mirrors what the person they are watching is experiencing and demonstrating. So if, for example, a woman is watching another woman doing something sexual, and feels a similar sexual attraction in that moment, she may question her own sexuality, but note that it wasn't necessarily that she is lesbian, bisexual, or pansexual, but that the gender of the person she is watching wasn't relevant to those feelings being triggered, instead it was empathy.

Note that sexual feelings caused by empathy can happen while physically being with someone, or from watching someone in a movie, online, in videos, or in photos. If someone who is **empathysexual** sees someone doing something sexual who looks like they are truly interested in what they are doing *(not bored, sad, angry, ...)*, they will be triggered to experience similar feelings, and that can happen regardless of whether it's in-person, or just online. In the case of "porn", despite knowing consciously that "it isn't real", someone who is empathysexual may still be triggered. Note that some who are empathysexual experience it just according to their sexual preference, while others may experience it even for a gender that doesn't coincide with their typical sexual preference.

Something that needs more research is how the empathysexual trait applies to people who have autism. Many who have autism have extremely high empathy. There was a presentation of research in 2019 by J. Dewinter called "**Autism, sex, love and relationships: looking back and forward**", where it is shown that only 56% of autistic women consider themselves to be heterosexual. This is probably due to their non-gender-specific empathy, which can cause their sexuality to be ambiguous.

There is a condition that happens for some people who have autism called "**hyper-empathy**". Those individuals experience empathy that can overload them, to the point of being painful and disabling. This can also happen in sexual situations, and can cause difficulties in understanding and dealing with what is happening. So, it's not that people with autistism don't feel empathy, quite the opposite, it's often that they feel it far too much. There is an excellent introductory article titled "**Autistic People & Empathy: What’s The Real Story?**", which is online at **The Art of Autism**.

Another affected group is those who have **aphantasia**. It is a condition in which someone is unable to form pictures in their imagination *(i.e., when they close their eyes, they literally see nothing, remembered or imagined)*. More broadly, that person may similarly be affected in their other senses, including hearing, touch, smell, taste, spatial awareness *(proprioception)*, balance, movement *(kinaesthesia)*, temperature *(thermoception)*, pain *(nociception)*, passing of time *(chronoception)*, emotions of others, and others.

The effects of aphantasia and how they can tie to **empathysexuality**:

* There are indications that it is common for those with aphantasia to have autistic traits. It is likely that the causes of aphantasia and autism are shared. In some cases, aphantasia is a direct side effect of having autistic traits. As a real-life example, the many siblings of the author of this article, like him, all have aphantasia caused by autistic traits. This may be common, but it has not yet been researched.
* Another shared trait is that those with aphantasia are at least 50% likely to be asexual, and may be likely to be empathysexual *(which isn't part of asexuality, but is related)*. Someone with aphantasia is unable to imagine something sexual in their head, nor recall it, so it is common that they need something visual in front of them *(there is no "imagine")*. As part of this, it is likely that the person with aphantasia isn't typically "turned on" by just nudity, but needs that their sexual partner demonstrates sexual attraction toward them at that moment, otherwise, it doesn't work.

Details:

* Empathysexual can be an exception to somebody being otherwise fully asexual. Two versions:
	+ Reciprosexual: only with a close partner
	+ Feeling attraction to anybody who shows sexual attraction. This may be common among those who have aphantasia.
* In some cases, it can also be an expansion of the sexual drives of an allosexual. The most common case is a woman feeling sexual attraction when she sees another woman who is demonstrating sexual attraction, despite not having considered herself to be "bisexual". A person with this trait can be strictly heterosexual or homosexual, but it has been statistically shown that the odds of this person feeling bisexual or pansexual sexual attraction is far more likely to happen for a person who has autism *(especially for a female with autism)*. This doesn't make the woman's sexuality any less "real", but is the explanation of why women with autism are over six times as likely to be on the LGBTQIA spectrum than all other women.
* Note that when an empathysexual's partner is only focusing on their own experience/climax, meaning that the other person is experiencing libido, but not attraction and interest toward this partner *(or it's apparent they are imagining they are with someone else)*, the mirrored sexual attraction is likely to vanish. So in a situation that becomes "I got mine, tell me when you're done", the empathysexual loses their sexual attraction immediately.

## Etymology

The English word "empathy" is derived from the Ancient Greek ἐμπάθεια *(empatheia, meaning "physical affection or passion")*. That word derives from ἐν *(en, "in, at")* and πάθος *(pathos, "passion" or "suffering")*.

## History

The term was coined by Fandom user BruggingBlagoon on February 5, 2023. He coined the term "**empathysexual**" after finding that there are many like himself who have an empathy-based sexual attraction that is beyond just mirroring the sexual attraction of their own partner. So they may also experience sexual attraction from seeing movies, photos, etc., mirroring the person in the video or photo who exhibits sexual attraction *(even if it isn't "real")*. The distinguishing trait is that it isn't seeing nudity that causes the sexual attraction, it is experiencing and then mirroring the feelings of sexual attraction of that other person, nude or not. Correspondingly, when the other person is obviously not interested *("faking it", "going through the motions")*, that mirrored sexual attraction won't happen.

Note that the explanation about how this is a common trait in autistics, especially autistic women, was included because that is the group that is, due to high empathy, most affected by this trait.

The term Reciprosexual is the partner-only subset of empathysexual.

## References

1. https://theconversation.com/women-are-more-likely-to-identify-as-bisexual-can-research-into-sexual-arousal-tell-us-why-197294
2. "Autism, sex, love and relationships: looking back and forward" https://youtu.be/9rS96U0LmsM?t=1494
3. https://the-art-of-autism.com/autistic-people-empathy-whats-the-real-story/

## Flag

A flag needs to be added. It should have pink to stand for attraction.