I’m starting to think the English language needs a word for people who are attracted to men, and people who are attracted to women. Traditionally you’d simply write “men” and “women” under the assumption that everyone was straight (e.g., “Women go crazy for Colin Firth” or “Men love the Dallas cheerleaders”), but with increased LGBT awareness, that can be a little awkward. So rather than saying “Straight women and gay men love…” or even “Straight men, gay women, and bisexual people of either gender…”, can we think of creative (but simple/useable/memorable/idiomatic) words that encompass the spectrum of people who are attracted to men, and the spectrum of people who are attracted to women?
(Mods: Put in Cafe Society since it’s a language question, but move at will!)
Hmm…how about “Androsexual” and “Gynosexual?”
EDIT: I googled them and apparently people use these. And here I was thinking my Latin and Greek classes were paying off… 
Lady-lovers and… uh, man-fans.
EDIT: Or use antonio107’s terms. I like those better.
gynophiles and androphiles?
I think I like antonio107’s terms better, they sound less like something you get arrested for. 
:smack: Yeesh, gynophiles (-sexuals) and androphiles (-sexuals) - I should have thought of that! Smart bunch here - three responses in one minute.
Okay, I don’t know if there’ll be a better classically derived pair of terms. They do feel, however, a bit clinical (to me, anyways). Any other contenders for something more casual? The equivalent of “straight” or “gay” as opposed to “heterosexual” or “homosexual”?
In that case, let me reiterate: lady-lovers and man-fans.
boobers and manfans
I like manfans a lot.
Wikipedia says that it would be gyne- not gyno-
Well, we use hetero and homo quite liberally…what about “Andro” and “Gyno?”
Yeah.
Thank you, Rodgers01! I’ve thought the same thing, and have even considered asking the board about it, but never got around to it.
Quoth antonio107:
That, though, I think would get confusing. If I were to hear that someone was an “andro”, I would assume that it was the person emself who was male, which would be about 90% likely to be wrong.
Estrogen-sniffers and testosterone fiends?
The thing about the philos root ist that it doesn’t necessarily imply sex: yes, it has gotten that meaning, but it’s somewhat of a distortion. Philosophy is not “wanting to have sex with knowledge”; androphilia could mean “enjoying the company of men” without wanting to have sex with them.
You do know that “enjoys the company of men” used to be a euphemism for being a homosexual, right?
I’ve been doing it wrong all these years!!!
My apologies to the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library.
I know this isn’t GD but it bothers me greatly when people want to ‘PC-up’ the language by trying to cram some ridiculous artificial term in from the ‘top down’. Words should only get created and more importantly used strictly from organic necessity. IOW from the ‘bottom up’.
Remember Ms.? There wasn’t anything wrong with that term itself, but how often do you ever hear it today?
Herpes & Hemis.
Well, androphyles like to eat sausage, so they are “Germans”
Gynephyles like to eat pussy, therefore they are… um… “Chinese”? I don’t know, I got nothing.
And if you told me someone was a Gyno, I’d think I could call their office to schedule my annual Pap smear appointment.