Sapiosexuality: Clarification of a Rather Ambiguous Term

The idea that one can be attracted to a quality that can be effectively equated with wisdom is generally unnerving to some. Wisdom is usually associated with old people, and old people are generally linked to pedophilia in regards to romantic relationships with people of my age (19). The idea that I propose is nonspecific to age, gender or traditional concepts of sexual orientation. It is also not entirely original to my cognitive creativity.

Sapience is the quality pertaining to judgment and rationality. When one is sapient, they generally make good decisions that benefit them and others in the future. Wisdom is culturally specific to those that have reached an old age, specifically because it is vital to the long-term survival of a human being. So those who thrive into their 80s and 90s have always been generally sapient in nature. It directly contrasts impulsiveness, so decisions are usually thought through logically, and are more likely to result in a positive outcome. In reality, sapience is not an acquired trait. One who is sapient usually expresses sapience throughout the entirety of their adult life.

Sapiosexuality is the idea that sapience is the single-most important determining factor in one's sexual preferences. So one is first most attracted to someone who appears to be thoughtful, rational and grounded. After this trait is identified, other factors are weighed. Such as age, gender, physical appearance, etc.

One does not necessarily have to be pansexual in regards their physical attractions if they are sapiosexual, as sapiosexuality is a sliding scale in regards to importance and degree. It is one of many factors that determine the people that one is attracted to. For instance, when one says they are straight, they do not mean they are only limited by gender. If so, many more people would not factor age into a relationship. Nor would they allow personality to be a determining factor. When one says they're straight, they also mean they only date people their age who don't irritate them.

Romantic sapiosexuality is the somewhat foolish notion that sapience is the single determining factor in sexual attraction. It's highly unlikely that one actually only cares about a single factor when choosing a candidate for a long-term relationship. Perhaps I'm being meta-cognitive when I say that it is irrational to love someone romantically on the basis of a single trait. Love is when the traits that are important to one person are present in another, and vice versa. Sapiosexual love is simply a more sustainable form of that.