The way most of us think of this term is in regards to what gender(s) we're romantically interested in. But of course anyone who has been on the internet for more than 5 minutes knows there are more "lifestyles" (for lack of a better term) than you can shake a stick at. Some people seem pretty invested/grounded/in need of the lifestyle in question. So...what about polyamory? D/s? BSDM? If a person needs* to have a relationship that falls under these banners, is that an orientation, as well? Or, can it be part of the orientation, like, "I'm a hetero sub?"
I'm kind of torn on it. I have kind of a dividing line in my head between "orientations" that simply describe the preferred partner, and "orientations" that bring to mind graphic pictures of bedtime activities. Which...ok, polyamory maybe lies somewhere in the middle of that? So I have a hard time thinking of some of this stuff as true orientations vs. just, you know, preferences or things we like (we all have those, after all).
Any thoughts?
*By "needs" I mean, has to have in order to have a psychologically and sexually satisfying relationship.