Sapiosexual

Submission 21,199

About

Sapiosexual is sexual identity in which someone is attracted to intelligence or someone's mind rather than their physical appearance. The term was coined in the 1990s but came to be used in mainstream media following OKCupid's change in identity options on user profiles. The term has often been criticized as pretentious and ableist.

Origin

On March 15th, 2002, LiveJournal^[1] user wolfieboy claimed to have invented the term in 1998 in a post:

Me? I don't care too much about the plumbing. I want an incisive, inquisitive, insightful, irreverent mind. I want someone for whom philosophical discussion is foreplay. I want someone who sometimes makes me go ouch due to their wit and evil sense of humor. I want someone that I can reach out and touch randomly. I want someone I can cuddle with.
I decided all that means that I am sapiosexual. I want to fuck with peoples minds. :)

I invented this term while on too little sleep driving up from SF in the summer of '98 and I'm trying to propagate it as much as possible. So please use it when appropriate…

But where's the gender in all that? That people that I find like that also happen to have marvelous, wonderful bodies happens to be a perq. Flesh is fun…

Spread

On December 4th, 2014, NPR^[3]^[2] reported that within the next week OKCupid would add the term sapiosexual as a sexual identity option for user profiles. Since the term became more prevalent many criticized it for being pretentious and ableist.^[5] On January 16th, 2015, the asexualadvice Tumblr^[4] account made the point that

"they want to say that it’s the person’s personality and intellect that they find attractive, not their physical appearance. But pansexual covers that – pansexuality is where you are attracted to people of all genders based on traits that are not their gender, in essence.
Sapiosexuality is actually ableist and discriminatory. Intelligence is not a fixed characteristic, and there’s more than just one type of intelligence. A person’s mental ability affects their ability to gain different types of intelligence, so when you say you’re attracted to intelligence, you’re saying that you find mental disabilities unattractive, and that’s callous and ableist.

On March 6th, 2016, Facebook^[6] group ＬＳ D ＭｅｍｅＥｍｕｌａｔｏr posted an ironic "admin reveal" which was an image of a person wearing a shirt that defines sapiosexual (shown below, left). The post gained 233 reacts in three years. On December 31st, Facebook^[7] group HoodPocahontas posted "don't say you're sapiosexual unless you're willing to bag a dolphin (shown below, right). The post gained over 458 reacts in three years.

On October 24th, 2016, Facebook^[10] group Fully Automated Luxury Liberalism posted an image with the caption "I'm a Sapiosexual that means I'm attracted to conventially beautiful women who are wearing glasses and holding a book" (shown below, left). The post accumulated over 1,000 reacts and 248 shares in three years. On June 2nd, 2017, the New York Times^[8] published an article about sapiosexuality which features several interviews with sapiosexuals and Debby Herbenick, a professor of applied health science at the Indiana University School of Public Health, who said, "Scientists consider sapiosexuality less a sexual orientation than an identity. People who identify as sapiosexual may also identify as gay, straight, bisexual, asexual or something else." On June 6th, Redditor Roqueofspades posted to a screenshot of a r/sapiosexual post to r/iamverysmart^[9] (shown below, right).

Mark Ronson's "Good Morning Britain" Interview

On September 19th, 2019, Good Morning Britain uploaded their interview with music producer Mark Ronson to YouTube (shown below). In the interview Mark Ronson claims he is sapiosexual after discovering the word that day. The video garnered over 30,500 views in four days.

That same day, news of Mark Ronson's declaration spread to Twitter where many mocked the the claim or denounced the term sapiosexual. That day, Twitter user @NicoleFroio^[11] tweeted, "Lemme make this clear. Sapiosexual is not part of the LGBTQ community. Sapiosexual is an ableist faux sexuality that only douchebags think is real" (shown below, left). The tweet gained over 22,900 likes and 6,400 retweets in four days. The next day, Twitter user @shonfaye^[12] tweeted, "Mark Ronson is sapiosexual which means he’s attracted to people for their intellect. Which is cool. And I’m glad he’s found so many beautiful women under 35 whose intellect he’s attracted to x" (shown below, right). The tweet received over 800 retweets and 12,100 likes in three days.