Okay, am I just getting too old, or are the number of new terms overwhelming others as well? Sure, I was vaguely aware that there were folks who fit into the different categories; there just wasn’t a name for it. While the article I came across was about Nebulasexuals, there were also other terms I’d never heard of, such as abrosexual and graysexual. It sounds like something from my book coming out in April that is partially set in the 26th century, but I digress. So…what is nebulasexual? According to the article, a nebulasexual “refers to someone having a nebulous sexuality.” Okay, WTF does that mean? It means that it’s “not defined, which can be due to neurodivergence or because they have intrusive thoughts.” Okay, let’s add to the terms…just to further confuse you. According to Sexuality Wiki, “nebulasexual is a sexuality that comes under the quoisexual umbrella.” Again…WTF. Apparently, that means the individual “cannot tell if they experience sexual attraction or not, due to neurodivergence or intrusive thoughts/urges/images.” Here are some other things I learned about nebulasexuality…

The term first appeared online on Tumblr in 2014.
Nebulasexuals may want sex or a sexual relationship, but don’t know if they experience “attraction.”
For individuals on the spectrum, social cues, body signals, or attraction may not land the same way for individuals not on the spectrum, which can be confusing. Are they sexually attracted to a particular individual, or is the chemistry something different?
A new flag for nebulasexuals was created in 2020: shades of green with a white stripe separating shades of orange.
The name “nebulasexuals” derives from a nebula, a giant cloud of dust and gas.

I sure wish I’d known all this about nebulasexuals before I wrote Sculpting Her Heart or The Invisible Woman. It would have been helpful to include more in-depth explanations of nebulasexuality. Thankfully, I heard from several readers who told me I did an excellent job of creating a character they could relate to as a neurodivergent person. I suppose if I write a follow-up short story, I now have this knowledge. Perhaps it would have also been helpful with the main character in The Invisible Woman, too, since she was also probably on the spectrum. Want to read about Zara from Sculpting Her Heart, Tamara from The Invisible Woman, or any of my other memorable characters? Simply click the links below!