Is asexuality a sexual orientation? A simplified philosophical/mathematical view

[Guest]

I also have a version that replaces the hetero <--> homo axis with a gyno <--> andro axis for non-binary identifying individuals.

Glad to hear that, that would've been my only major complaint. ^_^

[Bilabial Click]

I also have a version that replaces the hetero <--> homo axis with a gyno <--> andro axis for non-binary identifying individuals.

Glad to hear that, that would've been my only major complaint. ^_^

GOOD! Yeah, one of the major problems with the model is it doesn't do a great job with gender. Just know that I didn't neglect that as a factor, it's just hard to represent

[Bilabial Click]

----

[averylongwalk]

Honestly, I hope asexuality is never declared an official orientation. but then again I'm not too passionate about this argument anymore..

[AeternaAce]

I've become brain-dead from reading all these post. Something I've noticed consistently throughout the post was that everyone was canceling out everyone's else's post but continuing in the same general direction of the person before. I would put evidence, but...I tired! Anyway I feel there would be a lot less confusion if either everybody considered the same definition of a specific word when being used, or just decided to strictly post a post that had to do with the topic alone without all the he/she/they/ze said.

I feel that asexuality is a sexual orientation simply because of the two definitions of asexuality and sexual orientation. Neither definition says it can or can't be and I don't feel like being wrong today, so it is what it is.

In other words it's whatever the hell you perceive it to be and in this case there is no right or wrong just the acceptance of how you see it and how your opponent sees it as well.

(If I am completely wrong about the entire thing, just carry on the conversation and act as if I've never posted)

[Squirrel Combat]

Whoa. This was, like, way too much math for me, man. :P

Brain...fried!

[AWF]

Well, all these propositions are interesting, and the topic, overall, has been rather amusing. I think it's fun to have these kinds of discussions.

When it comes to explanations for new-comers, I don't think the controversy "user friendly", though. I believe it's simpler, for the sake of introduction, to refer to it as an orientation. Whether or not that's true is up to the individual. After all, I think that for many of us asexuality has granted us liberty. It's only fitting that we all have that freedom from prescription.

If you'd like to think of the issue mathematically, that's your choice. But I would suggest that the collective human organism is so complex and wondrously diverse that such approaches are impractical. But where else to discuss the many subtleties of asexuality if not here?

[Sally]

AWF, on 15 May 2014 - 8:20 PM, said:

.

When it comes to explanations for new-comers, I don't think the controversy "user friendly", though. I believe it's simpler, for the sake of introduction, to refer to it as an orientation.

Yes indeed.

I wonder if homosexuals have ever gone through this mathematical/graphical parsing of their orientation. If so, I haven't heard of it. We can do that for fun, but when we're talking to the "outside world", I think it's a bad idea, because outsiders are already stunned by the very idea of asexuality.

[averylongwalk]

Some argue that since the cold is not measuring actual cold, but how much heat there is, cold isn't a real thing. Same with darkness, you can't measure an absence of something because there is no determinate thing to measure. Asexuality is a lack of sexual attraction, but what are you measuring it against? compared to just everyone? each other? an ideal perfect human with the right amount of attraction?

Personally I believe in that to a degree, as well as the APA's wording of sexual orientation completely covering asexuality under one of the three major orientations, but I understand the importance of other terms it recognizes as being necessary. Using cold as an everyday term is great, it helps explain things a lot; Although it is not the opposite of heat, it is the absence of it. This is how I see asexuality, it isn't the opposite of sexuals or another orientation by itself, it simply is a term used by a minority of people for a wide variety of uses.