sexual attraction
Enable an agent to recognise and describe reported sexual attraction, distinguish it from neighbouring experiences, and judge what interpretations or actions the available evidence supports.
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.
recalled by Codex without web access - no source was read
Researched by: Codex
Purpose and description
Enable an agent to recognise and describe reported sexual attraction, distinguish it from neighbouring experiences, and judge what interpretations or actions the available evidence supports.
Sexual attraction is a person-directed experience of sexual interest or appeal, distinguishable from general sexual desire, physiological arousal, romantic attachment, sexual identity, and sexual behaviour, although research definitions and measures vary.
It can be Ask a person how they distinguish sexual attraction from arousal, libido, romance and aesthetic appreciation.; Record a voluntary account with its wording, context, reference period and unresolved ambiguity.; Compare reports over time when definitions and measurement anchors are compatible.; Represent absent, rare, conditional or uncertain attraction without assigning an orientation identity.; Flag interpretations that improperly infer attraction from appearance, bodily response or behaviour.; Identify when a proposed action requires separate consent or permission to disclose personal information..
Distinguishing features
Ask whether the experience has a sexual quality for the person reporting it; finding someone beautiful or wanting emotional closeness alone does not establish sexual attraction.
Ask whether sexual interest is directed toward someone or a described class of people; a general desire for sexual stimulation alone does not distinguish attraction from libido.
Require an explicit account of attraction rather than substituting bodily arousal, fantasy or observed sexual behaviour for it.
Distinguish a particular attraction experience from a persistent pattern and from the identity label a person chooses.
Record attraction separately from willingness to engage sexually: an attraction report does not answer whether any particular interaction is wanted or consented to.
Scope
+ Definitions of sexual attraction and the perspectives that use them
+ Reported experiences of person-directed sexual interest
+ Direction, intensity, frequency and temporal pattern of attraction
+ Reported conditions under which attraction emerges, changes or is absent
+ Operationalisations and limits of evidence used to describe attraction
+ Boundaries on interpretation, disclosure and action
- Sexual orientation identities and their broader social meanings
- General libido and physiological sexual arousal considered independently of attraction
- Romantic attachment, aesthetic appreciation and other forms of interpersonal attraction
- Sexual behaviour, relationship agreements and consent decisions
- Clinical diagnosis, treatment and explanations of sexual functioning
Characteristics
- Definition in use
- Person's own description; named research definition; other explicit definition; unresolved Different definitions can classify the same reported experience differently.
- Reported direction
- Experiencer reports attraction toward a person or self-described class of people; unspecified; uncertain Identifies what the attraction is directed toward without deriving identities or demographic attributes.
- Reported presence
- Present; explicitly absent; uncertain; fluctuating; not reported, within a specified context and time window Separates absence of attraction from absence of information.
- Reported intensity
- Person-defined ordinal scale or named instrument, with anchors and time window; unknown Supports comparison only where the meaning and reference period of the ratings are clear.
- Reported frequency
- Episodes per stated interval or explicitly anchored frequency categories; not assessed Distinguishes isolated experiences from recurring patterns without assuming that episodes have natural boundaries.
- Reported emergence conditions
- Immediate; following familiarity or emotional connection; other self-described conditions; no identified conditions; uncertain Preserves conditions the person considers relevant without imposing an identity label or causal explanation.
- Temporal course
- Newly noticed; continuing; intermittent; changed; ended; uncertain, with observation dates Prevents a report about one period from becoming a permanent assertion.
- Evidence basis
- Direct self-report; questionnaire response; retrospective account; third-party interpretation; unavailable Makes the difference between reported experience and external inference visible.
Also called
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 5 bundles · 9 layers · 15 findings · 23 questions.
Meaning and boundaries Establishes what sexual attraction means in the account being modelled and what would qualify as an instance.
The registry supplies no definition, and the model must expose definitional choices rather than silently settle them.
Definitions and perspectives
Records the person's terminology and any research framework used to interpret it.
Sexual quality and directedness
Record how an account identifies an experience as sexual and whether directedness toward someone is required by its definition.
- What makes this experience sexual attraction in the person's own terms, and does that account require a wish for sexual contact? definition
- Whose definition is being used, and where can its exact wording and context be checked? provenance
Neighbouring experiences
Separates attraction from experiences that may accompany it or be confused with it.
Attraction without proxy substitution
Record attraction, libido, arousal, romantic interest and aesthetic appreciation separately wherever the account permits.
- Does the person distinguish this sexual pull from general libido, bodily arousal, admiration or a wish for romance? boundary
- What supports identifying attraction here beyond observed behaviour, fantasy content or a physiological response? provenance
Direction and experience Describes whom attraction concerns and how its presence and strength are experienced.
Recognising sexual attraction requires a situated account of its direction and felt character, not merely an orientation label.
Reported direction
Captures the target of attraction at the level of specificity the person chooses.
Person-specific and general reports
Distinguish attraction toward a particular person from a report about a broader pattern, retaining the reporter's own categories.
- Is this account about attraction toward a particular person, multiple people or a self-described class of people? definition
- Which details are explicitly reported, and which would otherwise be inferred from another person's appearance or presumed identity? boundary
Presence and strength
Represents present, absent and uncertain attraction with interpretable ratings where useful.
Anchored experience report
Attach presence and intensity descriptions to a stated person or pattern, context and reference period.
- Within which time window and context is attraction reported as present, absent or uncertain? measurement
- If intensity is rated, what do the scale anchors mean to this person, and can those meanings be compared across reports? measurement
Conditions and temporal patterns Represents when attraction arises and how reports develop across time.
A single episode, recurring attraction and attraction described as conditional require different interpretations.
Emergence conditions
Records reported prerequisites and relevant circumstances without treating associations as established causes.
Connection and context
Capture whether familiarity, emotional connection or other circumstances are described as necessary, facilitating or merely coincident.
- Does the person describe emotional connection, familiarity or another condition as necessary for their sexual attraction to emerge? definition
- What evidence distinguishes a perceived prerequisite from a circumstance that happened to accompany attraction? provenance
Episodes and longer patterns
Separates dated experiences from summaries of frequency, continuity and change.
Change without identity assignment
Record changes, rarity and absence over a defined period while leaving identity labels to the person.
- How are episodes counted, and what period supports describing attraction as recurring, rare, intermittent or absent? measurement
- Does a changed report describe a changed experience, changed terminology, changed willingness to disclose or an unresolved combination? boundary
Evidence and permitted use Constrains how attraction is assessed, interpreted and used in decisions affecting people.
Attraction concerns private experience, and its assessment must not silently become an identity assignment, consent decision or disclosure.
Operationalisation and evidence
Makes the assessment method, wording and inferential limits inspectable.
Measure matches construct
Record whether an instrument asks about attraction itself or measures a neighbouring construct used as a proxy.
- What exact question, instrument or observation produced this record, and what construct does its source claim to assess? provenance
- Does the method separate sexual attraction from desire, arousal, identity and behaviour, and how does it represent uncertainty or nonresponse? measurement
Consent and disclosure boundaries
Separates an attraction report from permission for sexual interaction or permission to share that report.
Attraction does not authorise action
Require independent grounds for proposed interaction, disclosure or identity labelling rather than deriving permission from attraction.
- Is anyone treating reported attraction as consent to a particular sexual interaction, and what separate consent information is actually available? action
- What permission and task need support recording or sharing this account, and can the task be completed with less identifying detail? 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.
Check these first
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- This is a recall-based account; no sources were consulted.
- The listed kinds describe target-gender patterns, not an exhaustive taxonomy or automatic identity labels.
- A researcher should check each instrument's definition, recall period, and separation of attraction from desire, arousal, identity, and behaviour.
- Which of these check these first hold for the sense of sexual attraction this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Kinds and varieties
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Attraction to people of a different gender
- Attraction to people of the same gender
- Attraction to people of more than one gender
- Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of sexual attraction this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Real-world use
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Studied as one dimension of sexual orientation alongside identity and behaviour.
- Used in sexuality surveys to describe patterns of attraction over specified periods.
- Discussed in relationship counselling and sexuality education to distinguish attraction from intentions, actions, and consent.
- Used in research on asexuality to distinguish little or no sexual attraction from abstinence or low general sexual desire.
- Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of sexual attraction this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Typical measurements
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Self-reported intensity of sexual attraction - Instrument-specific ratings from no attraction to strong attraction; no universal reference range - Ordinal rating
- Self-reported frequency of sexual attraction - Never to frequently within a stated recall period; categories vary by instrument - Frequency category
- Pattern of attraction by target gender - Instrument-specific categorical responses or separate ratings for different genders - Category or ordinal rating
- Which of these typical measurements hold for the sense of sexual attraction this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Failure modes and hazards
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Inferring consent, willingness, or intended behaviour from attraction.
- Treating attraction, physiological arousal, sexual behaviour, and identity as interchangeable measures.
- Treating little or no sexual attraction as inherently pathological.
- Assuming a reported attraction determines a permanent identity or predicts every future relationship.
- Using disclosure of attraction to stigmatise people or expose sensitive personal information.
- Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of sexual attraction this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Regional variation
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Languages and cultural frameworks differ in how they distinguish sexual attraction, romantic interest, desire, and identity.
- Social acceptance and disclosure conditions affect reported attraction, complicating comparisons across populations.
- Survey categories for sex and gender vary across settings and may inadequately represent local understandings.
- Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of sexual attraction this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Sexual desire - Desire concerns motivation for sexual activity and can occur without attraction to a particular person.
- Sexual arousal - Arousal concerns subjective excitement or physiological responses; neither alone establishes person-directed attraction.
- Romantic attraction - Romantic attraction concerns interest in a romantic connection and can occur without sexual attraction.
- Aesthetic attraction - Finding someone visually appealing does not necessarily involve sexual interest.
- Sexual orientation - Orientation concerns broader patterns of attraction and their conceptualisation; an individual episode of attraction is not an orientation.
- Consent - Consent is voluntary agreement to a particular activity; attraction supplies no such agreement.
- Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of sexual attraction this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
What the second pass must settle
- Which reference works and research traditions define sexual attraction differently, particularly concerning directedness, desire for contact and subjective sexual quality?
- Which assessment instruments distinguish attraction from libido, arousal, romantic interest and behaviour, and for which populations have those distinctions been evaluated?
- How should episode boundaries, frequency and intensity be operationalised without imposing a misleading common scale across people?
- How should the model represent accounts of rare, absent or conditional attraction when a person rejects available terminology or finds attraction difficult to identify?
- Does an existing Vercy world model already own this concept or its essential structure, requiring this registry entry to link to that model?