Split attraction model

The split attraction model (SAM) is a self-description tool: it treats sexual attraction and romantic attraction as two axes you can describe independently. Under the model, someone might be “asexual and homoromantic” (rarely experiences sexual attraction, but falls in love with the same gender) or “bisexual and aromantic” — any combination.

It took shape in online asexual communities, because the single word “orientation” couldn’t hold these experiences: if no one attracts you sexually, then “who would I want to love” becomes a question needing its own axis. For many people on the asexual and aromantic spectra, this vocabulary made it possible — for the first time — to say precisely what their experience is. Background at Asexuality explained.

Register note: a community-grown concept now appearing in academic literature. Entirely optional — for most people sexual and romantic attraction point the same way, and one word describes them perfectly well.

Common misuse: turning the model into a standard everyone must apply, or wielding it to second-guess people (“you haven’t separated them properly”). It’s a language tool for those who need it, not an exam for everyone.