Robyn is the CEO & Founder of HER. Find her on Twitter.
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May 17, 2023
Congratulations! You’ve unlocked a new sexuality in our ever-expanding universe of queer experiences. This time you’ve entered the world of neptunic. Ooooh… Celestial, right?
But let’s bring it back down to Earth: what does neptunic mean anyway? Neptunic refers to the sexuality of being non-binary and attracted to women and non-binary people. So anyone but men.
It’s kind of a kickass name if you think about it. I mean, queer folks love astrology, so it’s kind of perfect to add some astrological sparkles to our labels.And we’ve already got some cool representation to show for it: Sailor Neptune, from the Sailor Moon series, is the perfect example of a neptunic person. Not just because she shares the same name but because she is canonically in a relationship with a non-binary woman, Sailor Uranus!
Source: Sailor Moon
There’s much more to explore when it comes to the neptunic sexuality: from etymology and its pride flag to its similarities to other labels. If you’re asking yourself if you’re neptunic, you’re in the right place. And if you know your neptunic, send this article to a friend to educate them!
The HER app is here to help you in the journey of discovering yourself and to connect you with other people who are going through the same experience. Connect with other queer folks on the HER app — Who knows where a swipe will lead you next… maybe Neptune?
Like many neo-labels, neptunic as a term that relates to sexuality, probably originated in online forums. The Tumblr user @socialjusticeichigo is often credited with coining the term back in 2017.
There are a few ways to define neptunic, so take your pick:
Notably, you don’t have to be any particular gender to identify as neptunic. You can be a non-binary man, a cis-woman, or a man and can identify as neptunic!
The colors of the more widely-used neptunic flag range in shades of turquoise, lilac, purple, and teal.
Source: Tumblr
There are alternatives to the main neptunic flag. This next one has a drawing of the blue planet Neptune superimposed on the six horizontal stripes mentioned above.
The dark blue represents the ocean and symbolizes the depth and complexity of non-binary and queer identities. The lavender color represents androgyny and the blending of gender identities, while the white color represents non-binary identities and the unity of all queer individuals. Together, these colors create a vibrant and meaningful flag that celebrates the diversity and resilience of the non-binary and queer community.
Source: Tumblr
Neptune isn’t the only planet in our solar system, duh! That’s why it shouldn’t be surprising to find out that there’s also a sexuality that refers to attraction to anyone but women or women-aligned people. This is called uranic.
Saturnic, on the other hand, refers to the exclusive attraction to non-binary people.
Let’s use all these new words in a sentence to get the hang of things:
“I’ve never been interested in men, but I could see myself being with a non-binary person who isn’t a woman. I guess that makes me neptunic!”
“Alex has never shown interest in women but has a massive crush on Kelsey, who’s genderfluid. They’re playing around with labeling themself as uranic, and he likes it so far.”
“I don’t think I could be saturnic because I feel attraction towards not only non-binary people but also men and women.”
Unlike some labels, you don’t have to be a specific gender to identify as neptunic. WLW, on the other hand, refers to women who love women. So this can apply to women-identified non-binary people, cis-women, and trans-women who feel attraction to other women-identified non-binary people, cis-women, and trans-women.
These aren’t mutually exclusive labels, you can be both WLW and neptunic, but you could also be non-WLW and neptunic, if you catch my drift.
Neptunic and bisexual are similar in that you don’t need to identify with any specific gender to identify as bisexual.
Bisexuality is the attraction to more than one gender, while neptunic refers to being attracted to women and non-binary non-men. So yeah, neptunic people can technically be bisexual. But it’s up to you, and only you, to decide for yourself what you feel most comfortable with. And always remember: there’s no rush to figure it out or even to answer the question if it doesn’t matter to you.
Pansexuality refers to the attraction to all genders, which includes men and men-identified people. So neptunic people can’t be pansexual because neptunic people aren’t attracted to men.
If you’re wondering if you’re neptunic, here are some useful questions to ask yourself:
If the answer is yes and then no, you may be neptunic. Don’t feel like you have to box yourself in, though, because you may also want to explore other options too. Ask yourself the following questions afterwards.
If you are bisexual, pansexual, or sapphic, you can also identify as neptunic. There are no hard and fast rules, so don’t feel like you have to identify yourself with any one label if you don’t want to.
Want to meet other sapphic, neptunic, lesbian, and bisexual people? The HER app gives you access to people looking for safe connections just like you. Download the HER app and get connected!
Robyn is the CEO & Founder of HER. Find her on Twitter.
