Asexuality

This article is about the sexual orientation in humans. For the form of reproduction, see asexual reproduction.

Asexuality is a sexual orientation describing individuals who do not experience sexual attraction. Asexuality as a human sexual orientation has only been recognized and defined in a few academic studies since the 1980s, and a community of self-identified asexuals has only coalesced since the start of the 21st century, aided by the widening popularity of online communities.

Note that asexuality is not the same as celibacy, which is the deliberate abstention from sexual activity; many asexuals do have sex, and most celibates are not asexual.

Research

Research exploring asexuality, or even taking asexuality into account, is a relatively recent development in the study of sex. Many of the larger studies in this area are only now being planned and carried out, so the body of work is growing at a rapid pace.

Alfred Kinsey, the father of sexology, was aware of an asexual element in the population but did little to investigate it. His Kinsey scale of sexual orientation consisted of a single axis lying between heterosexuality and homosexuality with bisexuality in between, and thus left no place for asexuality. In the Kinsey Reports of 1948 and 1953, subjects were scaled from "0" (completely heterosexual) to "6" (completely homosexual), but a separate category of "X" was created for those with "no socio-sexual contacts or reactions."

The first explorations of asexuality were based on the presumed existence of an asexual demographic, inferred from a new understanding of human sexual variability brought by researchers such as Kinsey. A 1977 paper entitled Asexual and Autoerotic Women: Two Invisible Groups, by Myra T. Johnson, may provide the first such conjecture. Johnson defines asexuals as those men and women "who, regardless of physical or emotional condition, actual sexual history, and marital status or ideological orientation, seem to prefer not to engage in sexual activity." Johnson reveals no firsthand knowledge of or contact with asexual individuals, but portrays them as invisible, "oppressed by a consensus that they are nonexistent," and left behind by both the sexual revolution and feminist movement.

In a 1980 study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Michael D. Storms of the University of Kansas outlined his own reimagining of the Kinsey scale. Like Kinsey, Storms gauged orientation based on fantasizing and eroticism rather than actual sexual activity. Storms, however, placed the tendencies of hetero-eroticism and homo-eroticism on separate axes rather than at two ends of a single scale; this allows for a distinction between bisexuality (exhibiting both hetero- and homo-eroticism in degrees comparable to hetero- or homosexuals, respectively) and asexuality (exhibiting a level of homo-eroticism comparable to a heterosexual, and a level of hetero-eroticism comparable to a homosexual: namely, little to none). Storms conjectured that many researchers following Kinsey's model could be mis-categorizing asexual subjects as bisexual, because both were simply defined by a lack of preference for gender in sexual partners.

The first empirical data about an asexual demographic appeared in 1994, when a research team in the United Kingdom carried out a comprehensive survey of 18,876 British residents, spurred by the need for sexual information in the wake of the AIDS epidemic. The survey included a question on sexual attraction, to which a significant 1% of respondents replied that they had "never felt sexually attracted to anyone at all." This phenomenon was seized upon by the Canadian sexuality researcher Dr. Anthony Bogaert, who explored the asexual demographic in a series of studies. The 1% statistic from the UK survey is the one most frequently quoted as the possible incidence of asexuality in the general population, though it should be considered very tentative. Assuming this statistic holds true, the world population of asexual people would stand at over 60 million.

The Kinsey Institute sponsored another small survey on the topic in 2007, which found that self-identified asexuals "reported significantly less desire for sex with a partner, lower sexual arousability, and lower sexual excitation but did not differ consistently from non-asexuals in their sexual inhibition scores or their desire to masturbate."

Though comparisons with non-human sexuality are problematic, a series of studies done on ram mating preferences at the United States Sheep Experiment Station in Dubois, Idaho starting in 2001 found that about 2% to 3% of the animals being studied had no apparent interest in mating with either sex; the researchers classified these animals as asexual, but found them to be otherwise healthy with no recorded differences in hormone levels.

Community

Dr. Elizabeth Abbot, author of A History of Celibacy, acknowledges a difference between asexuality and celibacy and posits that there has always been an asexual element in the population but that asexual people kept a low profile. While failure to consummate marriage was seen as "an insult to the sacrament of marriage" in medieval Europe, asexuality, unlike homosexuality, has never been illegal and asexual people have been able to "fly under the radar." However in the 21st century the anonymity of online communication and general popularity of social networking online has facilitated the formation of a community built around a common asexual identity.

The Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN) was founded in 2001 with two primary goals: to create public acceptance and discussion of asexuality and to facilitate the growth of an asexual community. Since that time it has grown to host the world’s largest online asexual community, serving as an informational resource and meeting place for people who are asexual and questioning, their friends and families, academic researchers and the press. The network has additional satellite communities in ten languages. Members of AVEN have been involved in media coverage spanning television, print, and radio, and participate in lectures, conferences and Pride events around the world.

As an emerging identity with a broad definition, there is an enormous amount of variation among people who identify as asexual. Some asexuals may masturbate as a solitary form of release, while others do not feel a need to. The need or desire for masturbation is commonly referred to as a sex drive and disassociated from sexual attraction; asexuals who masturbate consider it to be a normal product of a human body and not a sign of latent sexuality. Asexuals also differ in their feelings towards performing sex acts: some are indifferent and may even have sex for the benefit of a partner, while others are more strongly averse to the idea.

Relationships

Asexuals may experience romantic attraction, or the desire for, fantasy of, or propensity towards romantic love, often directed at people of genders falling within an affectional orientation. Many asexuals also identify as straight, gay, or bi, using the terms in a strictly affectional sense, or alternatively as hetero-, homo-, or bi-romantic. A relationship between an asexual and a sexual person may or may not involve sexual activity.

If an asexual individual's lack of sexual desire or response does cause dysfunction in a relationship with a sexual person, this is medically defined as Primary (not caused by another condition) Inhibited Sexual Desire (ISD), also known as Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder or Sexual Aversion Disorder. It should be noted that the medical community only considers ISD a disorder inasmuch as it causes personal distress or relationship dysfunction, and appropriate treatment most commonly consists of a broad range of tailored counseling. Thus these designations do not define asexuality itself as a disorder, but rather describe the problems asexual people often face coping with relationships and personal development.

Criticism

As there is still little scholarly or scientific discussion of asexuality as an orientation, and low awareness of asexuality in public discourse, alternative explanations are commonly raised in discussion of asexuality in scholarly debate, media coverage, and by friends and family of asexual individuals. These critiques may be directed at individuals or at some element of the community as a whole.

• A lack of sexual feelings can result from medical or psychological issues such as endocrine imbalances, Asperger syndrome, Schizoid personality disorder or other autism, anorexia or bulimia, or the lasting effects of childhood sexual abuse. A temporary loss of libido is also associated with depression and the effects of certain medications. Situational, secondary inhibited sexual desire (ISD) within a relationship can also be caused by a range of independent factors.

• Asexual people, particularly younger individuals identifying as asexual, may not have reached a stage of self-awareness and overall psychosocial development to have discovered the full range of their sexuality. This is commonly phrased as being "too young" or "a late bloomer" (in reference to the onset of puberty). Young people who settle on an asexual identity before fully exploring sex may be restricting themselves and their sexual development.

• An asexual person may be a repressed or closeted homosexual.

• An asexual person may have a latent sexuality that will be awakened by a suitable romantic or sexual partner. This is commonly phrased as "not having met the right person."

Any of the above may hold true for some individuals in the community, but asexuals object to the categorization of asexuality itself as a pathological state. The lack of research into the subject makes it impossible to estimate what percentages of self-described asexuals, if any, might fall into the above categories. However, this same lack of research also makes it impossible to refute the possibility that asexuality may be a symptom of other conditions, pathologies, or psychological or physiological disorders.

Famous asexuals

• Edward Gorey, writer and illustrator. Gorey never married or had any known romantic relationships, and responded to an interviewer's questioning of his sexual preference with, "I'm neither one thing nor the other particularly... I am apparently reasonably undersexed or something." He agreed with the interviewer's suggestion that "the sexlessness" of his books was "a product of his asexuality".

• Keri Hulme, author of The Bone People, winner of the 1985 Booker Prize, discussed asexuality and her involvement with AVEN in a 2007 interview

• David Jay, founder of the Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN)

• Paula Poundstone, comedian, has stated in a 2007 interview, "I’m totally an asexual human being. I haven’t dated anyone."

Asexuality in culture

It is problematic to make statements one way or another about the orientation of fictional characters, as many works simply do not explore characters' sexual or romantic lives, or leave them intentionally ambiguous. This list only includes works which clearly explore the asexual orientation.

• The Bone People by asexual author Keri Hulme, features an asexual protagonist who describes her lifelong experience of difference as a woman without sexual feelings.

• The [Widget], the [Wadget], and Boff by Theodore Sturgeon, 1955, contains an early portrayal of an asexual character and his journey to self-acceptance.

See also

• Affectional orientation
• Androgyny
• Antisexualism
• Celibacy
• Erotophobia
• Sexless marriage

External links

• AVEN: Asexual Visibility and Education Network
• Videos of television appearances by AVEN members
• Asexual and proud!. Salon, (May 26, 2005).
• Feature: Glad to be asexual New Scientist, (October 142004).
• No sex please, we're asexual. The Guardian, (14 October 2004).
• Study: One in 100 adults asexual. CNN, (14 October 2004).