What’s Sexual Orientation Got to Do with Sex?

Abstract

In this symposium contribution, I argue that the literature on sexual orientation has focused almost exclusively on questions about the nature of orientation, and under-theorized the role of sex and sexual desire. I identify two common assumptions in the literature which explain why this happens. I then argue that we would be better served by an approach to sexual orientation which shifts the focus away from questions about who we desire, and toward questions about what sorts of sexual interactions we want to have.