Familial Attraction and Orientation

Familial Attraction is a form of emotional attraction where one may desire familial interactions with a particular individual. This may include actions such as:

• living together
• sharing affirming sentiments
• performing favors for someone
• going out together
• taking part in reunions or repeated gatherings
• sharing time, belongings, and experiences
• mutual protection
• providing emotional, financial, and physical support

Familial attraction is more commonly referred to as brotherly/sisterly love, or family bonds. This attraction is commonly felt between blood relatives but do not have to be. Non-related individuals may also feel familial attraction to one another, often described as a chosen family. Familial attraction is closely associated with parental attraction.

One's pattern of familial attraction towards certain genders typically (but not always) forms that individual's familial orientation. Familial orientations are often identified by the usage of the -familial suffix, such as heterofamilial, or bifamilial.

An individual who regularly experiences familial attraction may be called allofamilial. Someone who does not regularly experience familial attraction may be called afamilial.

In academic works, familial attraction (also referred to as a genetic attraction) is sometimes used to refer to incestuous relations between family members but in an LGBTQIA+ context it is strictly non-sexual.