Can sexual arousal cause confusion about asexual orientation?

[Blue Phoenix Ace]

There's a thread about why there seem to be more females on this site than males. We've got a theory.

Hypothesis: Male asexuals experience sexual arousal more than female asexuals. Males that identify as asexual may have had the confusion that sexual arousal meant they weren't asexual before discovering their orientation moreso than females. If this is true then there are more males who haven't discovered their asexual orientation due to sexual arousal than females.

So, this question goes out only to the asexuals on this site. Unfortunately, we can't poll all the confused individuals who believe they are sexual due to sexual arousal, but are really asexual and haven't visited this site yet. So, this is the best we can do. If this is true, it may also mean that there are just as many asexual males as females, they just don't know it yet. We'll have to see how wide the gap is in this poll.

Also, comments are welcome!

The results as of this writing are:
Male: 13 confused/8 not confused (62% confused)

Female: 18 confused/5 not confused (78% confused)

Other: 4 confused/3 not confused (57% confused)

This data would show that the initial hypothesis is not true. In fact, the opposite may be true. There are potentially more females out there that are asexual, but do not yet know it because of having experienced sexual arousal.

[MsAgape]

I have a sexual arousal disorder called pgad men can have it too.

I feel if I'd been taught in school about what I am I would have known by 7 years old and that would have saved me so much pain, heartache and depression. About not fitting in, feeling different, alone. Stuff like that.

I would have said my pgad means sometimes I get aroused for no reason even orgasm but it's just an illness and I know who I am and what my identity is...

So, if it hadn't been for this rare illness I would never have experienced arousal and would have been less confused. But really, visibility/education about my sexuality is what was needed. TY!

[kelico]

I chose "Other gender, experienced sexual arousal and it caused confusion about my asexual orientation" since I identify as androgyne, but I am bio-female. I used to be confused mostly because I knew nothing about asexuality or the difference between libido, arousal, and sexual attraction. If there was more education regarding all of this...well, I wouldn't have been confused. :P Joining AVEN last year helped me so much.

[Star Bit]

Or it could be that women are more open to talking about personal things/seek forums/talk about a lack of desire in sex more than men who believe their common steriotype.

[Skycaptain]

I used to regard myself as male, but prefer agendered, and have done for a while. I often experience arousal, but I have never had any doubts as to orientation.

[knout]

"Male, experienced sexual arousal and it caused confusion about my asexual orientation"

I felt something was wrong with me in 2006 or so, discovered asexuality somewhere in 2007 but still stuck more or less with pansexual. Took me until 2009 and AVEN to tell me that because I had experienced arousal in the past it didn't mean I wasn't asexual.

[Blue Phoenix Ace]

Or it could be that women are more open to talking about personal things/seek forums/talk about a lack of desire in sex more than men who believe their common steriotype.

Might be, but we can only test one hypothesis per question. ;)

As for me, I had heard of asexuality before but never really dove it to understand it better. I figured getting erections around women meant I was pretty much just straight. Not until recently did I read more about asexuality just out of curiosity, that I found it really fit with me.

It'll be interesting to see more data on this one. Hopefully a few more folks will answer!

[ACWells]

It looks like more females found sexual arousal confusing to them re: their orientation- I certainly did!

[andreas1033]

I consider myself a total asexual. Meaning at 40 today, never experienced that lust for others, as a male.

I just think also there is a stigma against males saying they do not have no sex drive, as males are supposed to be highly strung. I doubt many males would say it openly.

There was no confusion in my life on this. We all have to prove it in some way if you feel like this, and i did, and did not want it, or lust after it. Being with others was not for me, and i was glad.

[Blue Phoenix Ace]

I'm gonna wait about another week before analyzing any data. But it certainly looks to be backwards from the initial hypothesis.

[Grumpy Alien]

I honestly don't know if I've ever experienced arousal. There's been questionable times but it's so slight, I don't actually know.

[Blue Phoenix Ace]

Results are posted in the original post of the thread. The hypothesis is incorrect. ;)

Also, seeing that there is a decently high rate of confusion shows that more visibility and education about asexuality might bring more lost sheep into the fold.

[deltaX]

I'm cis-female and as far as I know have not experienced sexual arousal. From what I've read here though, it sounds like because of the lack of education, it's very easy to confuse sexual arousal for sexual attraction if you don't know the difference.

I tend to think males probably experience sexual arousal just as much as females do. Males usually are socialized to be proud of have high sex drives, while females are told to kept their desires to themselves; if I had to guess it has more to do with these differing gender roles than something inherent about the male or female gender. Actually, I wonder if the reason more asexual-identifying people are female is because it to be expected in most societies for women to be uninterested in sex, while for men, it would be seen as shameful.

[RHD95]

Could "arousal" for this question be a little more specific? I wasn't sure what to answer, in my case I experience some degree of arousal (random and without libido) while I've never felt "horny", at least not mentally. This was one of the things that got me confused about being ace, but not the only one, so I voted it did cause confusion. From what I've seen libido is also a factor of confusion about some people's orientation, might also be worth adding in future polls.

[Blue Phoenix Ace]

I suppose you can define arousal any way you see fit. :)

[MacAran]

There's a thread about why there seem to be more females on this site than males. We've got a theory.

Hypothesis: Male asexuals experience sexual arousal more than female asexuals. Males that identify as asexual may have had the confusion that sexual arousal meant they weren't asexual before discovering their orientation moreso than females. If this is true then there are more males who haven't discovered their asexual orientation due to sexual arousal than females.

So, this question goes out only to the asexuals on this site. Unfortunately, we can't poll all the confused individuals who believe they are sexual due to sexual arousal, but are really asexual and haven't visited this site yet. So, this is the best we can do. If this is true, it may also mean that there are just as many asexual males as females, they just don't know it yet. We'll have to see how wide the gap is in this poll.

Also, comments are welcome!

The results as of this writing are:

Male: 13 confused/8 not confused (62% confused)

Female: 18 confused/5 not confused (78% confused)

Other: 4 confused/3 not confused (57% confused)

This data would show that the initial hypothesis is not true. In fact, the opposite may be true. There are potentially more females out there that are asexual, but do not yet know it because of having experienced sexual arousal.

I ran an analysis comparing the data from self IDed Males and Self IDed Females (sample size of other gender is too small for a meaningful analysis) and I got a p-value of around 0.3 which is to say that there is no significant difference between the samples either way. Translation: Based on this data, males are not more likely to be confused due to experiencing arousal then females, BUT neither are females more like to experience this than males.

(If you are curious about my method see this link under "Tests of Significance for Two Unknown Means and Unknown Standard Deviations." I established all answers of "experienced sexual arousal and it caused confusion about my asexual orientation" as having a value of 1, and all other answers as having a value of 0. I calculated mean and sample error based on these values.)

[AnotherWeasley]

I have experienced sexual arousal, but not because of other people. It just happened xD But yes, it did cause some confusion, until I fully wrapped my head around the difference between arousal and attraction.

[aussiekirkland]

Since I never knew sexual attraction was a thing, I thought that arousal based on stimuli or nothing in particular was just 'the usual'. I never realised people felt arousal towards others o.O

[EverythingAtOnce]

I have experienced arousal but I think it's more based around my age and my body developing more than anything. I still have no confusion as to my asexuality and am choosing to just take arousal towards certain interests as my body taking interest too, not me being "turned on" by it.

[Guest]

This poll is being locked and moved to the read-only Census Archive for 2015. As part of ongoing Census Forum organization, and in an attempt to keep the demographics of the polls current with the active user base at the time, each poll will last for one year. However, members are allowed and even encouraged to restart new polls similar to the archived ones if they like them.

Serran
SPF&A & Census Moderator