heterosexuality
Enable an agent to represent heterosexuality as a sexual orientation, distinguish attraction from identity and behavior, and act only within the person's stated meaning and permitted use of that information.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
Researched by: Codex + Grok
Purpose and description
Enable an agent to represent heterosexuality as a sexual orientation, distinguish attraction from identity and behavior, and act only within the person's stated meaning and permitted use of that information.
Heterosexuality is a sexual orientation in which a person's predominant sexual and/or romantic attractions are directed toward people of a different sex or gender than their own, treated in contemporary sexology and human-rights instruments as a non-pathological cluster of attraction, identity, and behavior that need not coincide.
It can be Record a person's heterosexual self-description using their chosen terminology and stated temporal context.; Represent attraction, identity, romantic orientation, and behavior separately while preserving relationships the person explicitly reports.; Ask a relevant, optional clarification when the meaning of heterosexual or other-gender attraction is necessary for the task.; Revise or withdraw an orientation designation following the person's correction and the applicable record-handling requirements.; Identify unsupported heterosexuality assignments based on partners, appearance, gender expression, or missing information.; Determine whether a proposed display or reuse of the heterosexuality designation fits its recorded purpose and disclosure authorization..
Distinguishing features
A report concerns heterosexual sexual attraction when the person describes attraction toward a gender they understand as different from their own; an observer's classification of the people involved is insufficient.
Heterosexual self-identification establishes an identity statement, without establishing exclusive attraction or a particular sexual history.
A different-gender partnership or sexual encounter alone does not distinguish heterosexuality from bisexuality, other orientations, or behavior without corresponding attraction.
Other-gender romantic attraction alone supports a romantic-orientation statement, not a heterosexual sexual-orientation assignment.
Heterosexuality describes an orientation or identity; approval of different-gender relationships or assumptions that everyone is heterosexual describe attitudes or social norms.
Scope
+ Other-gender sexual attraction as described by the person, including whether exclusivity is asserted or left unspecified
+ Self-identification as heterosexual, straight, or a personally equivalent term
+ Agreement or divergence among sexual attraction, romantic attraction, identity, and reported behavior
+ The gender reference and terminology through which the person understands heterosexuality
+ Time, disclosure context, and permitted uses of a heterosexuality statement
- Gender identity, sex characteristics, and gender expression as independently modeled attributes
- Sexual acts, partnerships, marriage, and reproductive history as independently modeled events or relationships
- Heteroromantic orientation as a complete model of romantic attraction
- Heteronormativity, discrimination, and sexual-orientation policy as institutional or cultural systems
- Clinical assessments of sexual function, distress, or treatment needs
Characteristics
- Heterosexual identity statement
- Self-described term, with explicit identification, explicit rejection, questioning, not disclosed, and not recorded distinguished Prevents an absent answer or an observer's assumption from becoming an affirmative heterosexual identity.
- Reported sexual-attraction pattern
- Person-described attraction toward other genders, their own gender, multiple genders, no sexual attraction, uncertainty, or no disclosure; retain original wording Allows attraction to be represented separately from the heterosexual label without forcing a replacement identity.
- Gender reference for other-gender attraction
- Person-defined relationship between their gender and the genders toward which attraction is reported; unspecified where clarification is unavailable Avoids silently equating heterosexuality with cisgender status, anatomy, or a fixed binary classification.
- Attraction exclusivity
- Exclusive as reported; predominantly other-gender as reported; another stated pattern; uncertain; unspecified Prevents the label heterosexual from supplying an unreported threshold or exclusivity claim.
- Relationship to romantic orientation
- Person reports alignment, difference, uncertainty, or no romantic-orientation information Distinguishes heterosexuality from heteroromantic identification, including when sexual attraction is absent.
- Temporal applicability
- Current self-description; historical self-description; under exploration; superseded; time unspecified Allows revision without declaring a previous self-description false or imposing a trajectory of change.
- Basis of designation
- Direct self-report; person-approved record; attributed third-party label; analyst interpretation Distinguishes what the person says from what someone else has assigned.
- Authorized representation
- Specified purpose and audience; restricted disclosure; withdrawn permission; authorization unknown Determines whether an agent may retain, display, or reuse this sensitive orientation information in the proposed context.
Also called
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Also registered as vr.tr.heterosexuality
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 5 bundles · 9 layers · 16 findings · 24 questions.
Sexual attraction and gender reference Represents the attraction dimension of heterosexuality without treating a label as a complete account of attraction.
An agent needs to understand what other-gender attraction means in the particular account before it can recognize the concept reliably.
Meaning of other-gender attraction
Establishes the person's meaning of sexual attraction and its gender reference.
Reported attraction reference
Record whose account is being represented and how that account relates the person's gender to the genders toward which sexual attraction is described.
- What does the person mean by heterosexual or other-gender sexual attraction in this account? definition
- Does the account state its gender reference, or would the agent be supplying an assumption about gender or sex characteristics? boundary
Attraction pattern boundaries
Separates reported attraction patterns from assumptions about exclusivity or identity.
Exclusivity without imposed relabeling
Preserve whether other-gender attraction is described as exclusive, predominant, occasional, or unspecified; do not use that description to assign an identity the person has not chosen.
- Does the person explicitly describe exclusivity or a broader attraction pattern, and over what period? measurement
- Would interpreting this pattern as heterosexual, bisexual, or another identity exceed the person's own statement? boundary
Heterosexual self-identification Represents heterosexuality as a chosen identity term with a speaker, meaning, and temporal context.
The heterosexual label can convey a self-understanding that cannot be reconstructed from observed relationships or attraction reports alone.
Identity language and attribution
Distinguishes the person's terminology from labels assigned by others.
Ownership of the heterosexual label
Preserve the exact identity term and identify whether it was self-reported, approved by the person, or attributed by someone else.
- Did the person identify as heterosexual or straight, or does this designation originate with another speaker or record? provenance
- Does the person treat straight and heterosexual as equivalent here, or attach a different meaning to the chosen term? definition
Identity over time
Represents current, historical, and exploratory self-descriptions without assuming permanence or inevitable change.
Temporal standing of identification
Associate the identity statement with its stated period and preserve corrections without treating uncertainty or non-disclosure as an orientation.
- Is heterosexual the person's current self-description, a historical description, or a term they are considering? provenance
- What should happen to the existing designation if the person revises it or asks that it no longer be used? action
Boundaries between orientation dimensions Connects heterosexuality to romantic attraction and relationship history while preserving their separate meanings.
An agent must avoid mistaking heteroromantic attraction, a different-gender partnership, or sexual activity for sufficient evidence of heterosexual identity.
Sexual and romantic attraction
Distinguishes sexual attraction from romantic attraction when the account differentiates them.
Heterosexual versus heteroromantic
Record whether the statement concerns sexual attraction, romantic attraction, or both, including a person's account of absent sexual attraction.
- Does the other-gender attraction described concern sexual attraction, romantic attraction, or both? definition
- If the person describes heteroromantic attraction without sexual attraction, what designation have they actually authorized for sexual orientation? boundary
Identity and relationship history
Limits what partnership and sexual-behavior records can establish about heterosexuality.
Limits of partnership evidence
Treat different-gender partnerships, celibacy, and sexual experiences as separate reports whose meaning for orientation must not be supplied by the agent.
- Is the heterosexual designation supported by an orientation statement, or only inferred from a partner or sexual history? provenance
- Has the person explained any relationship between their experiences and identity, or must that relationship remain unspecified? boundary
Context and use of the heterosexual designation Governs interpretation and use where heterosexuality may be presumed, selectively disclosed, or assigned through a form.
A heterosexual designation can arise from social defaults or administrative categories, so an agent must distinguish an actual statement from a contextual assumption.
Presumption and elicitation
Examines how wording, defaults, and available response options shaped the recorded designation.
Heterosexual default detection
Establish whether heterosexuality was affirmatively reported or introduced by a default, proxy, or restricted set of answers.
- What question and response options produced this record, and was heterosexual preselected or inferred? provenance
- If no affirmative orientation statement exists, should the agent replace the unsupported designation with an explicit unknown or unreported state? action
Disclosure and permitted use
Determines how the reported orientation may be represented to a particular audience for a particular task.
Purpose-bound orientation use
Record the basis for retaining or sharing the designation without treating heterosexuality as automatically public or as evidence of consent, compatibility, fertility, or relationship preference.
- For which purpose and audience did the person provide or approve this heterosexuality statement? provenance
- Does the proposed action fit that purpose, or does it introduce an unsupported inference about consent, partners, sexual practices, or reproduction? action
Evidence and external alignment What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.
A model that cannot be lined up against existing standards, identifiers and practice cannot be adopted by anyone who already uses them.
Reported evidence
Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.
Kinds and varieties
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Exclusive heterosexual attraction (Kinsey 0)
- Predominantly heterosexual attraction with incidental same-sex attraction (Kinsey 1)
- Heterosexual self-identity (straight) as a label independent of behavior
- Opposite-sex sexual behavior without a heterosexual identity
- Heteroromantic orientation (different-sex romantic attraction with little or no sexual attraction)
- Different-gender heterosexuality that includes trans partners or trans subjects
- Compulsory or institutional heterosexuality as a social regime rather than a private orientation
- Opposite-sex marriage or kinship role without a Western orientation identity
- Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of heterosexuality this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Identifiers and schemes
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Wikidata - Q1035954 - Item for heterosexuality as a sexual orientation.
- MeSH - D062108 - Heading Heterosexuality (introduced 2013); older literature is often indexed only under Sexual Behavior or Sexual Orientation.
- Kinsey scale - 0 (exclusive) to 1 (predominantly heterosexual) - Research operationalization, not a legal or diagnostic code.
- UK Equality Act 2010 - orientation towards persons of the opposite sex - Statutory limb of the protected characteristic 'sexual orientation', not a unique ID for the class.
- Which of these identifiers and schemes hold for the sense of heterosexuality this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Standards and regulation
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- WHO ICD-11: sexual orientation is not a diagnosis; heterosexuality is the unmarked non-pathological counterpart of orientations formerly pathologized.
- American Psychiatric Association DSM-5-TR: no disorder entity for heterosexuality or for other orientations.
- Yogyakarta Principles (2006) and YP+10 (2017), issued by an international experts' meeting convened with the International Commission of Jurists: sexual orientation, including different-gender attraction, as a human-rights ground.
- UK Equality Act 2010 (UK Parliament): sexual orientation includes attraction to the opposite sex as a protected characteristic.
- Council Directive 2000/78/EC (European Union): employment equal-treatment framework covering sexual orientation.
- National marriage and family codes: many still encode opposite-sex pairing as the default or exclusive civil form; others have equalized marriage without renaming heterosexuality.
- Which of these standards and regulation hold for the sense of heterosexuality this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Real-world use
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Self-identification item on health, census, and social surveys (heterosexual/straight as the majority tick-box).
- Unstated default in clinical intake, fertility services, school curricula, and next-of-kin rules unless another orientation is disclosed.
- HIV and STI surveillance category 'heterosexual contact' as a transmission classification.
- Civil status: opposite-sex marriage, cohabitation, and parentage remain the statistically dominant pairing in most jurisdictions.
- Marketing, media, and workplace benefits designed around an unmarked opposite-sex couple.
- Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of heterosexuality this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Typical measurements
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Share of adults self-identifying as heterosexual/straight - about 90-98 in many national probability samples; lower in younger cohorts and some urban or high-disclosure samples - percent of respondents
- Kinsey rating for exclusive or predominant other-sex attraction - 0-1 on a 0-6 scale - scale points
- Concordance of heterosexual identity with exclusive other-sex attraction and behavior - several percentage points of discordance are typical; identity is usually the most heterosexual of the three - percent of sample
- Lifetime number of other-sex sexual partners among sexually active adults - highly skewed; medians often in the low single digits, tails well above 20 - partner count
- Which of these typical measurements hold for the sense of heterosexuality this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Failure modes and hazards
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Heteronormativity: treating heterosexuality as the unstated default, which misclassifies patients, pupils, legal subjects, and survey respondents.
- Compulsory heterosexuality: social pressure into opposite-sex relationships, producing concealment, distress, unwanted marriage, and unsafe sex.
- Conversion or 'reparative' practices that attempt to produce heterosexuality; condemned as harmful by major psychiatric bodies.
- Surveillance bin 'heterosexual transmission' that can hide injecting-drug use or undisclosed same-sex risk.
- Conflating the orientation with gender-conforming presentation, so gender-nonconforming heterosexual people are miscoded.
- Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of heterosexuality this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Regional variation
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- The identity labels 'heterosexual' and 'straight' are modern Western categories; many languages and kinship systems describe opposite-sex marriage without an orientation identity.
- Legal monopoly of opposite-sex marriage versus marriage equality still differs sharply by jurisdiction.
- Reported heterosexual identification is inflated where same-sex identity is stigmatized or criminal, so prevalence is not comparable across legal regimes.
- Some gender systems (for example two-spirit, hijra, fa'afafine) do not map onto a heterosexual/homosexual binary, so 'opposite sex' is an imported frame.
- Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of heterosexuality this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Heteronormativity - A social arrangement that privileges opposite-sex pairing; an institution can be heteronormative even when a given person is not heterosexual.
- Bisexuality - Presence of non-incidental attraction to more than one sex; opposite-sex attraction is shared, same-sex attraction is the separator.
- Homosexuality - Predominant same-sex rather than different-sex attraction; test is the sex or gender toward which attraction is primarily directed.
- Heteroromantic asexuality - Different-sex romantic pairing preference without sexual attraction; separate sexual from romantic dimensions.
- Opposite-sex sexual behavior - Acts with a different-sex partner do not establish orientation; identity and enduring attraction may diverge from the acts.
- Gynephilia / androphilia - Attraction is framed to women/femininity or men/masculinity rather than to 'the opposite of the self'; the separator is whether the reference point is the partner's characteristics or the subject's own sex/gender.
- Pansexuality - Sex or gender of partners is not a relevant constraint; heterosexuality treats different sex/gender as the relevant constraint.
- Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of heterosexuality this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Sources
- Sexual Behavior in the Human Male - The attraction-behavior continuum and the exclusive/predominantly heterosexual (0-1) distinction still used in practice.
- International Classification of Diseases, 11th Revision - Sexual orientation, including heterosexuality, is not classified as a disorder; orientation is excluded from psychopathology.
- The Yogyakarta Principles: Principles on the Application of International Human Rights Law in Relation to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity - Defines sexual orientation (including attraction to a different gender) as a human-rights category rather than a clinical status.
- Equality Act 2010, section 12 (sexual orientation) - Statutory definition of sexual orientation as attraction toward persons of the opposite sex, the same sex, or either sex.
- Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence - Distinguishes heterosexuality as a political and social institution from heterosexuality as individual attraction.
- Sexual orientation and homosexuality (APA topic guidance) - Attraction, identity, and behavior as separable dimensions; heterosexuality as one non-disordered orientation.
What the second pass must settle
- Which researched definitions should guide heterosexuality in this catalogue, and how should differences among sex-based, gender-based, and self-identification definitions be represented?
- How should the model preserve heterosexual self-descriptions involving nonbinary genders without imposing a binary reference or redefining the person's identity?
- Which, if any, validated measures of attraction are appropriate for the intended tasks, and what limits prevent their scores from being treated as identity assignments?
- Does an existing Vercy world model already own sexual orientation or heterosexuality, requiring this registry entry to link to it rather than establish another source of truth?
- Does the ACT / ACT.ACT placement intentionally include dispositions and identities, or does this entry require a documented classification review?