Following a continuum of attraction to one or many sexes and genders to a total lack thereof, there are a myriad of orientations based in a diverse set of sexual and emotional attractions which include but not limited to heterosexual, homosexual, queer, pansexual, demisexual, and asexual.
In asexual / ace communities in the past few years, there has been an enormous increase in prominence of people identifying as gray-A and as demisexual, with ‘ace’ now sometimes being used as an umbrella term.
Demisexuals experience sexual attraction as a consequence of romantic attraction but not independently of it.
2011, Holly Combs, "Labeling sexuality is not simple", The Maroon (Loyola University New Orleans), Volume 90, Number 10, 11 November 2011, page 6:
Demisexuals experience sexual desire only toward people with whom they already have a strong emotional bond. Like an asexual, a demisexual would not see an attractive woman and immediately desire sex, unless, of course, that attractive woman happened to be in a serious emotional relationship with the demisexual.
Gray-As or demisexuals fit somewhere between sexual and asexual; they may have very low sex-drives, or may only experience sexual attraction after a deep emotional connection exists.
We should seek to understand the diversity of the life experiences of asexuals, gray- As, demisexuals, etc., without privileging the stories of those most rich in whatever sorts of suffering are most relevant to the author’s own political agenda, and without privileging those who want to their relationships to subvert the social order over those whose dreams are more conventional.
