Does sexuality just apply to humans or all living things?

[Mellonhead]

What is required to have a sexuality? Sentience? Ability of self-awareness? Multicellularity? From a biological standpoint, do all organisms have a sexuality? Do plants have one? Angiosperms may spread their seeds by wind or by animal. Does that count as "sexuality"?

[Sam W]

When you say sexuality, do you mean something closer to sexual orientation? Or do you mean just "engaging in behavior that is sexual"?

[Mellonhead]

When you say sexuality, do you mean something closer to sexual orientation? Or do you mean just "engaging in behavior that is sexual"?

Wait a minute. The meaning varies? I thought I was going under the assumption of what I read on that Scarleteen article about sexuality. Now that you've mentioned it, I can totally see how the answer would vary too.

Thanks for your response.

[Sam W]

Most of us use sexuality as shorthand for sexual orientation, but not everyone does, so I wanted to clarify what definition you were using

[Mellonhead]

When you say sexuality, do you mean something closer to sexual orientation? Or do you mean just "engaging in behavior that is sexual"?

Assuming the latter definition, would my assisting in the self-pollination of a fast-growing mustard plant be an expression of my sexuality or the plant's? I am asking this seriously, as it is based on a true event. I was literally helping the plant to self-pollinate. The male and female parts were part of the same individual, but an individual of a different species was facilitating the sex act intentionally.

[Heather]

Just to be clear, sexuality is absolutely more than sexual orientation. It sounds like you've already seen this one, but in case you haven't: Sexuality: WTF Is It, Anyway?

Sexuality is WAY more than reproduction, and for humans (and, as you already know, some animals), more often than not it's not about reproduction at all. This question about your gardening is...well, I don't really know what to do with it save to say that unless you have feelings of sexual desire or excitement when you're doing that, it probably has zip to do with sexuality at all.

And just to be clear, our business here is the business of human sexuality. That's what we do, what we're equipped to ably discuss, and what we ask users here to focus on in discussions.

[Mellonhead]

Sexuality is WAY more than reproduction, and for humans (and, as you already know, some animals), more often than not it's not about reproduction at all. This question about your gardening is...well, I don't really know what to do with it save to say that unless you have feelings of sexual desire or excitement when you're doing that, it probably has zip to do with sexuality at all.

And just to be clear, our business here is the business of human sexuality. That's what we do, what we're equipped to ably discuss, and what we ask users here to focus on in discussions.

Okay. I am going to focus on human sexuality.

As I was assisting in the self-pollination of the fast-growing mustard plant, would I be expressing my sexuality if I imagined myself as a mustard plant and became excited at the opportunity to fertilize and to be fertilized, using animal vectors? Seriously, the biology class that enabled us to grow the plants got me thinking about human reproduction the whole time. I wished that touching the pollen with my finger and sucking on my finger would make me pregnant, but that was just a sexual fantasy that would probably not become reality due to several reproductive barriers. This may be the most weirdest sexual fantasy, but that was exactly what I imagined myself doing in that biology class. Though, I wasn't really thinking of the outcome of having half-human/half-plant progeny or whether that would ever be viable.

[Heather]

That's only for you to say for yourself!

But I would say that if you thought so, I assure you, people feeling sexual excitement about interaction with the natural world really is not so unusual. You might want to look into concepts of ecosexuality if that's of interest to you.