— Asked by Anonymous

After a lot of reading and research, I have come to a personal understanding of the definitions of each of these. Not everyone may agree with my definitions, but these are what helped me figure myself out:

sexual desire — the desire for partnered sexual activity in general, ie: I would like to have sex.

sexual attraction — the desire for partnered sexual activity with a specific person, ie: I am sexually attracted to you, so I would like to have sex with you.

sex drive — the same thing as a libido: a biological concept, like hunger, which may be fulfilled through sexual activity with a partner or masturbation.

arousal — another biological concept, meaning the body’s response to stimuli. for example, an erection: it doesn’t necessarily happen when someone wants it to happen; sometimes it just happens because of a stimulus or hormones or whatever.

Hope that helps! I understand it can be confusing because allosexual people don’t often have to think about the nuances of each, so there aren’t clear definitions.