sexuality

Etymology

sexual + -ity.

noun

1. The quality of being sexual; that which is characterized or distinguished by sex.
   Sexuality, then, is related to both biological sex and gender, and simultaneously is quite distinct from them. […] We employ sexuality to refer to all kinds of sexual relations, including sexual activities, eroticism, sexual identities, sexual meanings, and sexual politics. 2000, Barbara L. Voss, Robert A. Schmidt, “Archaeologies of Sexuality: An Introduction”, in Robert A. Schmidt, Barbara L. Voss, editors, Archaeologies of Sexuality, London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, page 2
   An alternative pattern of change from sexuality to asexuality in Ascomycotina could involve the widespread occurrence of female sterility. Both asexuality and 'female sterility' are widespread in Ascomycotina, and this may indicate that many ascomycotous Fungi Anamorphici have lost sexuality by a gradual process initiated by the loss or mutation of a gene other than an MTF resulting in 'female sterility'. […] There is also clear evidnece that loss of sexuality has occurred more than once in Talaromyces [A] and, in addition, asexual species are separated from sexual species by short branch lengths in terminal clades […] 2003, John Harrison Burnett, Fungal Populations and Species, Oxford University Press on Demand, page 282
   The time has come for re-thinking sexualities in Africa: The thinking beyond the conceptual structure of colonial and even post-colonial European imaginations, which have oscillated between notions of the exotic, the noble and the depraved savage, consistently however constructing Africans and African sexuality as something 'other'. This 'other' thing is constructed to be not only different from European/Western sexualities and self, but also functions to co-construct that which is European/Western as modern, rational and civilized. 2005, Signe Arnfred, “Re-thinking Sexualities in Africa: Introduction”, in Signe Arnfred, editor, Re-thinking Sexualities in Africa, 2nd edition, Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, page 7
   The asexuality of insects is, in almost all cases, known to be a derived condition. That is, their evolution was contingent on the sexuality of their ancestral forms. Only a few asexual groups are 'species' rich and ostensibly asexual […] 2005, G. H. Walter, Insect Pest Management and Ecological Research, Cambridge University Press, page 166
2. Sexual activity; concern with, or interest in, sexual activity.
   [W]hen adults with mild mental retardation are allowed to express their sexuality in appropriate ways, they are, in general, competent in terms of biological capability, sexual desire, and the psychological significance they attribute to sexual behavior[…]. However, they typically lack basic information about sexuality that would enhance their ability to engage in intimate relationships, as well as help them to be aware of the implications of that behavior and to protect themselves from exploitation. 1995, Betty N. Gordon, Carolyn S. Schroeder, Sexuality: A Developmental Approach to Problems (Clinical Child Psychology Library), New York, N.Y., London: Plenum Press, page 119
   Listening to teenage girls on the telephone discuss for an hour who held whose hand at a party underscores the universal adolescent fascination with burgeoning sexuality. 1998, Susan Moore, Doreen Rosenthal, “Adolescent Sexual Behaviour”, in John Coleman, Debi Roker, editors, Teenage Sexuality: Health, Risk and Education, Abingdon, Oxon., New York, N.Y.: Routledge, page 41
   Millions of people in recovery are going to work on their sexuality. Some identify themselves as recovering sex addicts, some as incest survivors and some simply know they are having sexual "problems." An exciting outcome of this massive energy expenditure is the opportunity to discover the real nature of sexuality. As these millions find out the truth—and live it—the world's sexuality will change. 2000, Anne Stirling Hastings, “Introduction”, in Discovering Sexuality that Will Satisfy You Both: When Couples Want Differing Amounts and Different Kinds of Sex, Gretna, La.: Wellness Institute, Inc., page 1
   The blindness that psychoanalysis had for penetrating anal sexuality as an active sexual construct, and for receptive anal sexuality as a possibly vigorous, muscular, and active option, was surely multiply determined, and without doubt related to a similar undervaluation of the active workings and possibilities that can be a part of vaginal receptivity. 2015, Alessandra Lemma, Paul E. Lynch, editors, Sexualities: Contemporary Psychoanalytic Perspectives, London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge
3. Sexual potency.
   As his sexual activity is aggressive, so he is interested in display and in manifestation of his sexuality, if not directly, then in contest against other men. And the whole of his life manifests his inner need to take initiative. 1985, Paul M. Quay, The Christian Meaning of Human Sexuality, San Francisco, Calif.: Ignatius Press
   [Thomas] Hardy relies heavily upon the natural object metaphor to provide him with a language of female sexuality that is not of the fastidious, fey, 'lilies-and-lace' category. In keeping with his heterodox views—that a voluptuous woman is a fair product of nature, fit and healthy in body and mind, neither degraded by her sexuality nor mentally or morally degenerate—he relies upon wholesome, 'natural' objects to evoke her healthy sexual appetite. 1988, Rosemarie Morgan, Women and Sexuality in the Novels of Thomas Hardy, London: Routledge, page 35
   [S]he often would ask him to come inside the ladies' room and make sure that no one would come inside while she was changing. […] He also was able to see that while unusual requests played into his traditional expectations about sex roles and his desire to protect her and assert his sexuality with her, they were anything but professional. She was, in fact, coming on to him the way he typically imagined a man would come on to a woman. 2012, Jennifer Hillman, Sexuality and Aging: Clinical Perspectives, New York, N.Y.: Springer, page 77
4. Sexual orientation.
   [T]his prospective gay adoptive father chose not to disclose his sexuality to the caseworker who interviewed him at his home, rather than admit that he was a gay man, in order to avoid being told he could not adopt. 2011, Rosie Harding, Regulating Sexuality: Legal Consciousness in Lesbian and Gay Lives, Abingdon, Oxon., New York, N.Y.: Routledge, page 101
   Derek is the only participant to express ambivalence about both his sexuality and his gender identity. Aged 61, he has been married to women twice and has three children. He had no prior sexual encounters with men until he left his second wife in 1999, when he was 48, and began 'experimenting' with sexual relationships with men, soon identifying as gay: […] 2016, Sue Westwood, Ageing, Gender and Sexuality: Equality in Later Life (Routledge Research in Gender and Society; 49), London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge
5. Sexual identity, gender.