Asexuality

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Asexuality refers to the absence of sexual attraction towards others, a lack of interest in sex, or a lack of desire for it.

Asexuality is not synonymous with sexual abstinence . Because this only includes the renunciation of sexual activities (despite the ability and motivation to do so). However, some asexuals even have consensual sex, and the reasons for this can vary widely. The desire to have children or to maintain a relationship with a non-asexual partner are mentioned most frequently .

Identity and definition

The Internet platform Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN) defines asexuality as the absence of sexual attraction towards anyone, regardless of gender. In the German part of the network, asexuality is also defined as the absence of the desire for sexual interaction (according to a survey, almost 80% of the participants in the German forum so far prefer this definition). As mentioned above, asexuality does not fundamentally exclude sexual interactions. Whether physical contact or sexual interactions are perceived as pleasant, unpleasant or neutral is irrelevant for the question of a person's asexuality.

Likewise, asexuality does not preclude romantic attraction . Many asexuals desire relationships on an usually purely platonic basis. Asexuality must therefore be distinguished from aromanticism (the lack of romantic attraction). Asexual people can describe themselves as hetero-, homo- or biromantic, among other things. Since the terms heterosexuality , homosexuality or bisexuality do not differentiate between the sexual and the emotional component of attraction or desire, the term asexuality can be viewed as a separate sexual orientation .

Asexuality should also not be confused with the lack of a libido in the sense of the spontaneous onset of sexual arousal or the need for masturbation. This general libido can be strong or weak in asexuals as in any other person. This fact distinguishes it from nonlibidoism (born without sexual feelings). To describe the gray area between sexual and asexual, the general collective term gray asexuality (when sexual attraction is seldom, weak or perceived as meaningless) as well as a large number of specific terms are used such as demisexuality (sexual attraction only arises as a result of a strong emotional bond).

Asexuality is not regarded as a disease, since with asexuality, in contrast to disorders of sexual appetite, there is no primary psychological stress and asexuals themselves perceive the circumstance as an ego-synton . In the DSM-5 , the American diagnostic system for mental disorders, self-identification as asexual is explicitly listed as a reason for exclusion for the diagnosis of a sexual appetite disorder .

distribution

The number of asexuals in society is unknown as there are no direct statistical surveys on this subject. However, there are indirectly obtained data on this. In an English study from 1994, in which 18,000 British people were asked about their sexual practices, one percent of the respondents ticked the option “I have never felt sexually attracted to anyone” as applicable to them.

A study carried out in the USA in the same year with the topic The social organization of sexuality: sexual practices in the United States did not ask explicitly about asexuality, but did provide indications about the spread of an asexual lifestyle. 13% of the 3,500 respondents said they had not had sex for at least a year and 2% had never had sex at all. Category X in the Kinsey scale published between 1948 and 1953 is nowadays often understood as a classification of asexual people. Since the Kinsey scale is based to a large extent on sexual behavior, only a partial overlap with asexuality in the sense of an orientation can be assumed.

history

Emma Trosse is considered to be the pioneer of a definition of asexuality in the sense of sexual preference , who in 1897 in her book A Woman? Psychological-biographical study of a counter-sexual person defined the category of the "senseless" as her own sexual orientation and at the same time acknowledged it. Like her other sexual reform works, the book was soon banned and remained without direct reception.

Community

Flag for asexuality

Towards the end of the 1990s, the first private sites could be found on the Internet on which people confessed to have little or no sexual desire and used the term asexuality for it. Groups like the Leather Spinsters campaigned against cultural pressures for sexual relationships and for a sexless life. The Dutch theater and film student Geraldine Joosten van Vilsteren created a website and a forum under the title The Offical Asexual Society (later The Official Nonlibidoist Society ) and the group Haven for the Human Amoeba was founded on Yahoo . In 2001 the Internet forum AVEN was founded in St. Louis, which has had a German-language sub-forum since 2005.

See also

literature

  • Anthony F. Bogaert: Understanding Asexuality . Rowman & Littlefield, 2012, ISBN 1442200995 .
  • Nicole Prause, Cynthia A. Graham: Asexuality: a Preliminary Investigation.
  • Asexuality , contribution by Mark Carrigan, in: The SAGE Encyclopedia of LGBTQ Studies 1 (AG) .
  • Geraldin Levi Joosten-van Vilsteren, L'amour sans le faire: Comment vivre sans libido dans un monde où le sexe est partout? Favre, 2005 ISBN 2828908399

Web links

Commons : Asexuality  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Anthony F. Bogaert: Asexuality: Its Prevalence and Associated Factors in a National Probability Sample . In: Journal of Sex Research . 41, No. 3, 2004, pp. 279-287. PMID 15497056 .
  2. ^ A b Nicole Prause, Cynthia A. Graham: Asexuality: Classification and Clarification . In: Archives of Sexual Behavior . 36, No. 3, 2007, pp. 341-356. doi : 10.1007 / s10508-006-9142-3 .
  3. ↑ a b Carol Haefner: Asexual scripts: A grounded theory inquiry into the intrapsychic scripts asexuals use to negotiate romantic relationships . Proquest, Umi Dissertation Publishing, 2012, ISBN 1-249-06260-8 .
  4. ↑ AVENde: [1] . As of November 12, 2016.
  5. ↑ AVENde: [2] . As of November 12, 2016.
  6. ↑ Asex Wiki: (German) [3] . As of February 26, 2017.
  7. ↑ Demisexuality Resource Center: (German) [4] .
  8. ↑ Queerulantin.de, p. 31: Between the worlds. (German) [5] . As of February 26, 2017.
  9. ↑ Demisexuality Resource Center: (German) [6] .
  10. ↑ Female Sexual Interest / Arousal Disorder. In: DSM-V , 2013, p. 434.
  11. ↑ Male Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder In: DSM-V , 2013, p. 443.
  12. ^ Volkmar Sigusch . About asexuality as a way of life: The disuse of lusts // Neue Zürcher Zeitung May 21, 2011