Asexuality - WikiHQ

Asexuality is the lack of sexual attraction to others, or low or absent interest in or desire for sexual activity. It may be considered a sexual orientation, or the lack thereof. It may also be categorized more widely to include a broad spectrum of asexual sub-identities.

Asexuality is distinct from sexual abstinence and from celibacy, which are behavioral and generally motivated by factors such as an individual's personal, social, or religious beliefs. Sexual orientation, unlike sexual behavior, is believed to be "enduring". Some asexual people engage in sexual activity despite lacking sexual attraction or a desire for sex, for a number of reasons, such as a desire to physically please themselves or romantic partners, or a desire to have children.

Acceptance of asexuality as a sexual orientation and field of scientific research is still relatively new,

Definition, identity and relationships

Because there is significant variation among those who identify as asexual, the term asexuality can encompass broad definitions. Researchers generally define asexuality as the lack of sexual attraction or the lack of interest in sexual activity, though specific definitions vary—the term may be used to refer to individuals with low or absent sexual behavior or exclusively romantic non-sexual partnerships in addition to low or absent sexual desire or attraction.

Asexuality is often abbreviated as ace, a phonetic shortening of asexual, and the community as a whole is likewise referred to as the ace community.

Relationships

Despite lacking sexual attraction, some asexuals might engage in purely romantic relationships, while others may not. Some who identify as asexual report that they experience sexual attraction, though lack the inclination to act on it, citing no desire to engage in sexual activity—some asexuals also lack the desire to engage in non-sexual physical activity such as cuddling or hand-holding, while others choose to do so. The desire for masturbation or other sexual activity is often referred to as sex drive by asexuals, who disassociate it from sexual attraction and being asexual; asexuals who masturbate generally consider it to be a normal product of the human body rather than a sign of latent sexuality, and others do not find it pleasurable. Some asexual men are unable to get an erection and are unable to attempt penetration. Asexuals also differ in their views on performing sexual acts: some are indifferent and may engage in sexual activity for the benefit of a romantic partner, while others are more strongly averse to the idea, though they are not typically against sex as a whole so as to condemn other people for engaging in any form of sexual activity. These are often integrated with a person's asexual identity, and asexuals may still identify as heterosexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual or pansexual regarding romantic or emotional aspects of sexual orientation or sexual identity in addition to identifying as asexual.

Romantic and interpersonal relationships

Asexual people are very different in terms of matters related to romantic attraction, intimacy and relationship building. Although asexuality implies the lack of sexual attraction, most asexual individuals are romantically attracted, which creates some distinctions between asexual people as aromantic, biromantic, homoromantic, or demiromantic identities. Romantic attraction refers to the yearning of intimacy or relationship which does not depend on sexual ambitions.

Studies in 2011 and 2017 concluded that asexual people have various relationship formats such as long-term romantic relationships, queerplatonic relationships, and mixed-orientation relationships between an asexual person and an allosexual person. Emotional intimacy, understanding of each other, and boundary and expectation communication are strongly related to relationship satisfaction among asexual people. These studies also concluded that successful partnerships often involve clear negotiation of physical affection, respect for differing needs, and flexibility in defining what intimacy means for each partner. In mixed-orientation relationships especially, couples may develop tailored arrangements that accommodate both partners’ comfort levels while preserving trust and mutual support.

A 2012 study concluded that asexual people also might have difficulties in dealing with social stigma, their compulsion to have sex, or their partners not understanding them. These experiences may add to minority stress but are usually alleviated by positive social networks and communities.

Gray asexuality

The term gray asexuality refers to the spectrum between asexuality and non-asexuality (also referred to as ). Individuals who identify as gray asexual may occasionally experience sexual attraction, or only experience sexual attraction as a secondary component once a reasonably stable or large emotional connection has been formed with the target, known as demisexuality.

Research

Prevalence

thumb|upright=1.3|[[Kinsey scale of sexual responses, indicating degrees of sexual orientation. The original scale included a designation of "X", indicating a lack of sexual behavior.]]

Asexuality is rare, with around 1% of the population identifying as asexual. It is not a new aspect of human sexuality, but it is relatively new to public discourse. In comparison to other sexualities, asexuality has received little attention from the scientific community, and there is relatively little quantitative data available about the prevalence of asexuality. In his creation of the Kinsey scale, which he used to rate individuals' sexual activity from 0 (exclusively heterosexual) to 6 (exclusively homosexual), Alfred Kinsey included an additional category, "X", for individuals with "no socio-sexual contacts or reactions". Although in modern times, this category has been interpreted as representing asexual people, scholar Justin J. Lehmiller has noted that "the Kinsey X classification emphasized a lack of sexual behavior, whereas the modern definition of asexuality emphasizes a lack of sexual attraction. As such, the Kinsey Scale may not be sufficient for accurate classification of asexuality". The study of this phenomenon was continued by Canadian sexuality researcher Anthony Bogaert in 2004, who explored the asexual demographic in a series of studies. Bogaert's research indicated that 1% of the British population does not experience sexual attraction, but he believed that the 1% figure was not an accurate reflection of the likely much larger percentage of the population that could be identified as asexual, noting that 30% of people contacted for the initial survey chose not to participate in the survey. Since less sexually experienced people are more likely to refuse to participate in studies about sexuality, and asexuals tend to be less sexually experienced than allosexuals, asexuals were likely under-represented in the responding participants. The same study found the number of homosexuals and bisexuals combined to be about 1.1% of the population, which is much smaller than other studies indicate.

Contrasting Bogaert's 1% figure, a study by Aicken et al., published in 2013, suggests that, based on Natsal-2 data from 2000 to 2001, the prevalence of asexuality in Britain is only 0.4% for the age range 16–44. This percentage indicates a decrease from the 0.9% figure determined from the Natsal-1 data collected on the same age-range a decade earlier.

In a nationwide survey conducted in Japan in 2023 by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, 49 respondents (0.9%) out of 5,339 valid responses identified their sexual orientation as asexual. In the same survey, 0.4% identified as gay, lesbian, or homosexual, and 1.8% identified as bisexual.

In a separate survey conducted in 2019 by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research in Osaka City, Japan, among 4,285 valid responses in a randomized survey on sexual minorities, 33 respondents (0.8%) identified their sexual orientation as asexual. When categorized by sex assigned at birth, 0.3% of male respondents and 1.1% of female respondents identified as asexual. The survey also investigated not only self-identification but also experiences of sexual and romantic attraction. According to the results, 1.6% of respondents (0.9% of males and 2.1% of females) reported having never experienced either sexual or romantic attraction. Additionally, 1.3% (0.6% of males and 1.8% of females) reported experiencing only romantic attraction, and 0.8% (1.0% of males and 0.7% of females) reported experiencing only sexual attraction.

Sexual orientation, mental health and cause

There is significant debate over whether or not asexuality is a sexual orientation. Unlike people with HSDD, asexual people normally do not experience "marked distress" and "interpersonal difficulty" concerning feelings about their sexuality, or generally a lack of sexual arousal; asexuality is considered the lack or absence of sexual attraction as a life-enduring characteristic. Researchers Richards and Barker report that asexuals do not have disproportionate rates of alexithymia, depression, or personality disorders. Academic Angela Chen has argued that this distinction is illogical since discrimination and bigotry faced by asexual people can cause distress. She believes that when low sexual desire is inherently seen as a problem, people will want to cure it, but that people should not have to feel like they have a "moral obligation" to increase their sexual desire.

Since the release of the DSM-5 in 2013, which split HSDD into diagnoses for female sexual arousal disorder and male hypoactive sexual desire disorder, both disorders have been criticised for similar issues to HSDD. Although the DSM-5 mentions asexuality as an exclusion criterion for these two disorders, individuals must self-identify as asexual to meet the differential diagnosis and this requirement has been criticised for imposing a diagnosis on people who are possibly asexual but do not yet identify as such. , HSDD continues to be used to describe transgender women.

The first study that gave empirical data about asexuals was published in 1983 by Paula Nurius concerning the relationship between sexual orientation and mental health. 689 subjects—most of whom were students at various universities in the United States taking psychology or sociology classes—were given several surveys, including four clinical well-being scales. In the results, asexuals were more likely to have low self-esteem and more likely to be depressed than members of other sexual orientations: 25.88% of heterosexuals, 26.54% of bisexuals (called "ambisexuals"), 29.88% of homosexuals, and 33.57% of asexuals were reported to have problems with self-esteem. A similar trend existed for depression. For various reasons, Nurius did not believe that firm conclusions could be drawn from this.

In a 2013 study, Yule et al. looked into mental health variances between Caucasian heterosexuals, homosexuals, bisexuals, and asexuals. The results of 203 male and 603 female participants were included in the findings. Yule et al. found that asexual male participants were more likely to report having a mood disorder than other males, particularly in comparison to heterosexual participants. The same was found for female asexual participants over their heterosexual counterparts; however, non-asexual, non-heterosexual females had the highest rates. Asexual participants of both sexes were more likely to have anxiety disorders than heterosexual and non-heterosexual participants, as were they more likely than heterosexual participants to report having had recent suicidal feelings. Yule et al. hypothesized that some of these differences may be due to discrimination and other societal factors.

With regard to sexual orientation categories, asexuality may be argued as not being a meaningful category to add to the continuum and instead argued as the lack of sexual orientation or sexuality. The researchers argue that asexuals do not choose to have no sexual desire and generally start to find out their differences in sexual behaviors around adolescence. Because of these facts coming to light, it is reasoned that asexuality is more than a behavioral choice and is not something that can be cured like a disorder. There is also analysis on whether identifying as asexual is becoming more popular.

Research on the etiology of sexual orientation when applied to asexuality has the definitional problem of sexual orientation not consistently being defined by researchers as including asexuality. While heterosexuality, homosexuality and bisexuality are usually, but not always, determined during the early years of preadolescent life, it is not known when asexuality is determined. "It is unclear whether these characteristics [viz., "lacking interest in or desire for sex"] are thought to be lifelong, or if they may be acquired". An analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health by Stephen Cranney found that, of 14