What’s symbiosexuality? Study finds falling for committed people is more common than we think

Being in a steady relationship can actually make you appear more attractive to people! A group of researchers from Seattle University has now coined a brand new sexuality: symbiosexuality. In layman's terms, symbiosexuality refers to the phenomenon of being drawn to people in a relationship. Published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, the research titled “Attraction to the Energy, Multidimensionality, and Power Shared Between People in Relationships” is authored by Dr. Sally W. Johnston.

In her study, Johnston challenges the conventional belief that human attraction and desire are confined to one-on-one relationships. She first encountered the concept of symbiosexual relationships while researching the treatment of “unicorns” in polyamorous dynamics.


VeryWellMind defines a unicorn as someone who engages in intimacy with a couple but is not involved in other aspects of their relationship.

Johnston observed that in these scenarios, the third partner is often mistreated, objectified, and excluded, despite the sexual benefits they bring to the relationship.

Her current research builds on The Pleasure Study, a larger initiative designed to explore various dimensions of gender, sexual orientation, relationship patterns, cultural backgrounds, education, and specific experiences with couples. The Pleasure Study featured a survey with 65 questions covering a wide array of topics.

Johnston concentrated on responses from participants who reported being attracted to a couple as a unit, rather than to each individual separately.

Out of 373 participants in The Pleasure Study, at least 145 reported experiencing this kind of attraction.

Most of these participants were white, middle-class university graduates, with over 90% identifying as queer and 87.5% as polyamorous.

However, Johnston emphasized, “There is a diverse population of people who experience symbiosexual attraction, which is a draw to the energy, complexity, and shared power within relationships.”

Symbiosexual individuals tend to be extroverted, highly value closeness, affection, and attention and are less likely to experience jealousy. Johnston is now expanding her research to examine the dynamics of symbiosexuality among the general population. "I hope that this work will reduce stigma in both monogamous and non-monogamous communities and expand conceptualizations of desire in sexuality studies," she told PsyPost.