Split Attraction Model

The Asexual Spectrum, by Dominique Mosbergen.

The Attraction Layer Cake, by Andrea Vos and Luna Rudd.

The Purple-Red Scale of Attraction, by Langdon Parks.

The Split Attraction Model, or SAM, is a model used to describe one's attraction using differing orientations. The SAM has historically been of significant importance to the ace-spec and aro-spec individuals, but also experiences usage outside of the a-spec community.

The split attraction model is often used to describe how one's sexual orientation and romantic orientation interact and are distinct; For example, an individual may be heterosexual as well as biromantic. An asexual individual may still experience romantic attraction whilst an aromantic individual may still experience sexual attraction, and the SAM allows such individuals to describe their orientations separately. Some individuals may also include tertiary attraction orientations in their identities. Not all a-spec individuals use the split attraction model.

An individual whose sexual orientation and romantic orientation don't match may identify as varioriented. If an individual's sexual and romantic orientations are the same they may prefer to use a single label and may identify as perioriented; For example, one may prefer the term "pansexual" over "panromantic and pansexual." A common exception to this is the term aroace, which is often used to avoid confusing "asexual" with alloromantic asexual or "aromantic" with allosexual aromantic.

Some individuals prefer more precise terms for differentiating forms of attraction, including "romantic orientation" or "romantic orientation labelling," "attraction types," "attraction subtyping," or "differentiating types of attraction". Not every individual who experiences different types of attraction necessarily has a distinct romantic orientation, and not every individual who has a romantic orientation necessarily experiences multiple types of attraction.

History

The first recorded instance of an orientation model describing split attraction was in 1879 by Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, a German writer who published twelve books on non-heterosexual attraction. In those books, Ulrichs came up with various classifications of orientations which are fairly similar to modern LGBTA+ identities. Among his works he described individuals who are 'konjunktiver and disjunktiver' or 'conjunctive and disjunctive bisexuality'. The first is described as one who has both 'tender' and 'passionate' feelings for both men and women. The second is one who has 'tender' feelings for men, but 'passionate' feelings for women (if the individual was a man - the reverse if they were a woman).

The next instance of separating sexual and romantic attraction was in 1979 by the psychologist Dorothy Tennov with the publication of her book 'Love and Limerence: The Experience of Being in Love'. In the book, Tennov describes 'limerence' as a form of attraction which could be described as a crush or an infatuation with someone. Although Tennov viewed sex as being a part of limerence she acknowledged that it was not the main focus of the concept.

The first hints of what would become the modern split attraction model began with 'affectional attraction/orientation' which was coined at some point in the 1980's. It's unclear when the term was first used. Coining for the terms as often attributed to Curt Pavola, a gay rights activist from Washington, and to Lisa Diamond, a psychologist. However, there are instances of the phrase that predate both of these individuals.^{citation needed}

Around 2001 there was a push for a way to classify asexual individuals. One of the earliest examples is the ABCD classification system on AVEN, which recognizes that some asexual individuals may feel romantic attraction. It wasn't until 2005 that the modern form of the split attraction model was created on AVEN. By 2009 the concept was commonly used throughout a-spec circles.

Other asexual individuals also began using additional tertiary attraction terms, such as platonic attraction, sensual attraction, and aesthetic attraction starting in the early 2000s.

It is unclear how the specific term "Split Attraction Model" came to denote the experiences of split attraction or who coined the term.

Many criticisms depend on the definition of the Split Attraction Model inferring that all individuals have differing orientations. However, modern usage of the Split Attraction Model does not state this, and is technically usable by anyone including those that have matching orientations.