A niche sexuality label circulating on social media under the names “berrisexual” and “laurian” has prompted a wave of personal posts in which users describe coming out with a preference pattern they say was not captured by broader categories such as bisexual, pansexual or omnisexual. The term, which appears to have gained traction on Tumblr and community-run LGBTQIA wikis over the past two years, is generally defined as attraction to women or feminine-aligned and androgynous or nonbinary genders with only rare or slight attraction to men or masculine-aligned genders. Posts tagged with the label show users adopting customized flags and identity graphics, while discussion threads debate whether the term usefully “fine-tunes” established identities or adds unnecessary complexity to a crowded field of microlabels that has grown alongside algorithm-driven identity discourse. The definition most often cited in user posts describes berrisexual, or laurian, as “usually only attracted to women/feminine-aligned genders and nonbinary/androgynous-aligned genders, but occasionally [with] little attraction to men/masculine-aligned genders,” language that has been reposted widely from a Tumblr explainer.
Unlike formal terminology that enters academic or clinical literature through peer-reviewed work, berrisexual sits in a cluster of grassroots identity terms that begin as community coinages, spread through image pins and reposts, and are codified in volunteer-edited wikis. Pages dedicated to the label on LGBTQIA community encyclopedias and on fandom-hosted identity glossaries typically position berrisexual alongside pansexuality and omnisexuality but distinguish it by the stated asymmetry of attraction—“a light or rare attraction to men/masculine-aligning individuals.” These entries also record an associated term, “almondsexual,” used as a counterpart for people whose attraction centers on men and androgynous or nonbinary genders with only slight attraction to women, and a fluctuation label, “almberriflux,” for those who say they move between the two patterns. The language is descriptive rather than diagnostic, and the pages are explicit that they compile community usage rather than prescriptive standards.
Most of the visibility for berrisexuality has come from short-form posts where individuals announce the label alongside the more familiar “bi” or “pan,” often explaining that it reflects lived experience in dating where attraction across genders is real but unequal. A typical thread on sexuality forums frames berrisexual as “a way to say you’re bi with a preference,” while others argue that the term is “very much an online thing,” suggesting that the vocabulary is more common on platforms than in queer social spaces such as bars or campus groups. That tension—between the granularity many users want to express and the skepticism of audiences who see redundancy with existing labels—echoes past arguments over microlabels that map attraction by intensity, presentation or context. In the absence of institutional gatekeeping, the arbiter is communal uptake, and berrisexual’s emergence into widely shared posts indicates at least a subculture prepared to use it. (Reddit)
The definitional text that has become the touchstone for the term’s spread comes from a Tumblr post that consolidates a family of related identities in plain language and deliberately archives wording that creators said was at risk of deletion as accounts shifted. “Laurian / Berrisexual is a term for people who are usually only attracted to women/feminine-aligned genders and nonbinary/androgynous-aligned genders, but occasionally feel little attraction to men/masculine-aligned genders,” the post reads, alongside parallel definitions for “verian/almondsexual” and the umbrella “almberriflux.” The same post lists hybrid forms that combine “bi” with each pattern, underscoring how many users adopt berrisexual in addition to, not in place of, a broader bisexual or pansexual identity. The format reflects a common mode of identity transmission on platforms where terminology is image-driven and portable: a single graphic or paragraph written for peers to repost intact, accumulating comments that amount to community ratification.