Tertiality, or tertiary attraction identity, is a term referring to the way an individual experiences their identity in relation to activities, thoughts, and relationships built upon tertiary attractions. This is a multifaceted concept that include factors such as tertiary orientations, interaction stances, tertiary drives, and relational alignments. Tertiality is often influenced by factors relating to gender identity, such as gender alignment.
The sexual equivalent to this term is sexuality, and the romantic equivalent is romanticity.
Tertiary orientations
Tertiary orientations are terms that refers to the gender(s) or gender alignments that an individual feels a tertiary attraction towards and how that tertiary attraction is experienced.
Typically, tertiary orientation labels are derived using a prefix combined with the suffix for the attraction type. Bisenual, heteroaesthetic, and demiplatonic are all examples of tertiary orientations. Other labels that do not use the attraction-specific suffixes, such as gay, lesbian, and trixic, can also be used to describe one's tertiary orientation.
An individual who experiences no tertiary attraction, or only experiences it rarely or weakly, may consider themselves atertiary. Similarly, a-spectrum terms can be used with any attraction suffix to describe a lack of that attraction specifically.
Interaction Stances
Interaction stances are terms describing an individual’s feelings towards different types interaction. These can include feelings towards activities, interaction, or concepts related to tertiary attraction and relationships. These terms are commonly used by a-spectrum individuals, but are not exclusive to this community or orientation.
Tertiary Drives
Tertiary drives refer to the experience of tertiary urges or desires, such as a need for friendship, touch, or socialization.
Tertiary drives are a separate concept from tertiary attractions. While tertiary attractions are directed at a target individual, tertiary drives are a general, untargeted experience.
Relational Alignment
Relational alignment is a category of terms that describe the number of individuals one wants to be in a relationship with at the same time. The most commonly known relational alignments are polyamorous and monogamous.
The Influence of Gender on Tertiality
Tertiality may be influenced by an individual’s gender identity or gender alignment. Gender can affect how an individual perceives themselves and others, as well as how an individual interacts with others. This can impact how an individual perceives their tertiary identities. For example a genderfluid individual may feel different about their tertiality depending on what gender they are experiencing at the time.
History
This term was coined by Reddit user AnonymousHermitCrab on r/lgbt on May 9th, 2022 in order to have an equivalent term to sexuality or romanticity which describes one's identity as it relates to tertiary attractions.[1]