Sexual Health Ed - Types of Attraction: allosexual/asexual; alloromantic/aromantic

Dr Madeleine Muller presented this tutorial as part of a panel discussion on Adolescent and Sexual Health at the Southern African Sexual Health Congress 2024. This essential module needs to be included in sex education curricula and is for all adolescents who are at an age where attraction to someone else may surface. Our curricula include gender diversity and sexual orientation but rarely cover the different ways in which people experience attraction and intimacy. This leads to the mistaken assumption that sexual desire is the ‘norm’ and the only ‘correct’ way of feeling attraction. This module explains the difference between being allosexual (sexual attraction preference) and alloromantic (sensual attraction preference). It includes a diverse range of identities that fall under this aspect, such as what it means to be asexual, aromantic and related identities. Knowledge of our attraction preferences enables better communication between intimate partners for safe, consensual intimate encounters. Dr Madeleine Muller is a Family Physician at CMH and a Senior lecturer with Walter Sisulu University at the Department of Family Medicine and Rural Health. She is the Convenor for the Diploma in HIV Management (CMSA). She serves as the executive of RuDASA and PATHSA and has been involved for over 20 years in teaching sex education to adolescents and teachers at schools in South Africa and the United Kingdom.