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"Asexuality Quiz" on HowStuffWorks


Faelights

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This is the quiz in question.

Now, I haven't actually done the quiz myself, but from the comments I've seen about it as well as a sampling of some of the questions provided by some friends who did actually do the quiz, "problematic" could be one way of describing this quiz.

Anyway, I just thought I'd drop it here and see what everyone thinks!

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Notte stellata

At first I thought it's like some other quizzes that tell you if you're asexual, but then I found it tests your knowledge about asexuality.

I think this question is a bit weird: "People who are aromantic intentionally avoid what?" The answer is "nonsexual romantic relationships". It's the closest one, but I don't think it's necessary to specify "nonsexual".

Quite a few questions aren't closely related to asexuality itself. There's even a question about asexual production in the biological context, ugh...

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Ok well I was writing a giant post debunking this and then my browser ate it, but I'll have one up eventually.

Part One:

1) In Alfred Kinsey's 1948 report, “Sexual Behavior in the Human Male,” he referred to people with nonexistent sex drives as what? (A: In the famous Kinsey report, adult men and women labeled Group X expressed “no socio-sexual contacts or relations.”)

no socio-sexual contacts or relations ≠ nonexistant sex drive. Also, the possible connection between kinseys "group x" and asexuals was proposed by later academics, not kinsey himself, if I recall corecctly.

2) What percentage of unmarried women surveyed in the Kinsey report acknowledged no sexual contact? (A: Published in 1948, the Kinsey report lumped roughly 15 percent of unmarried women into Group X.)
3) In 2004, a psychological study estimated that what percentage of the population is asexual? (A: Based on a sexuality survey conducted in Britain, Brock University psychologist Anthony F. Bogaert calculated that 1.5 percent of the population exhibited no sexual attractions toward anyone.)

Ok, first, it was more like 1%. 1.08% maybe, if you wanna be really precise. But a ten-second google search can tell you it’s not 1.5%. Also, the Bogaert study found that 1% of a British sample replied that they had not experienced sexual attraction: whether this is true for the rest of the population, and whether any of these people identify as asexual, is just speculation.

4) The Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN) defines asexuals as people who experience what? (A: AVEN defines an asexual as “a person who does not experience sexual attraction.”)

ok, this one’s not too bad.

5) True or false: Asexuals never have sex. (A: some self-identified asexuals are sexually active. Although a majority of asexuals remain virgins, some are sexually active for the benefit of their romantic partners.)

First: that’s NOT how you write a true/false question (hint, when you sat “true or false”, the answers should be just “true” or “false”. And how dare you tell me that “False” in not a correct answer.

Also, the fact that here they use “self-identified asexuals” when in the rest of the quiz they use just “asexuals” is a little troubling in the implications.

And I’d like to a citation for the “most remain virgins” statement. Plus, not sexually active does not always mean still a virgin. And being sexually active for romantic partners isn’t the only reason some aces may not be aces.

6) Which of the following is a characteristic of the asexual community? (A: A series of surveys reveals that far more women identify as asexual, comprising approxmately 71 percent of the community.)

Well, to start, the answer to this depends on what statistics you look at: the numbers vary wildly, and at least one (notable one of the few surveys that did not recruit solely online) found a male majority. Plus, saying that a series found women to be 71% is misleading: several found a majority, but the 71% figure I believe comes from only one of such studies, not all of them.

7) Which fictional character is a hero among the asexual community? (A: Sci-fi genius Dr. Who is the ultimate asexual hero, since he exhibits asexual behavior but forges otherwise intimate relationships with people.)

Trick Question! Both Sherlock and the Doctor are asexual cult heros. (And how dare they say Sherlock is incorrect!) I’d actually have to say that Sherlock is by far more of an asexual cult figure than the Doctor, although there is a strong asexual Dr. Who Fandom. (Although, the fact that they call him “Dr. Who” makes me think they are not well versed in the fandoms anyway)

8) People who are aromantic intentionally avoid what? (A: Between 17 and 18 percent of asexuals identify as aromantic, or intentionally romantic relationship avoidant.)

nononononooooo. That’s not how It works. Aromantic = not experiencing romantic attraction. They may still have romantic relationships (I know I still would consider one, despite not having an innate desire for one). It’s the same way that asexual does not necessarily mean hating/avoiding sexual relationships. Also….why specifically nonsexual romantic relationships? Are we supposed to somehow like sexual romantic relationships? Or all hate sex? Aromantics can be asexual or allosexual.

9) Who's the public face of the asexuality movement? (A: In 2001, David Jay founded the Asexual Visibility and Education Network, eventually becoming the public face of the asexual community)

Ok, it’s true that DJ is a major face of the asexuality movement, but he’s hardly the only one. And actually, Bogaert is in some ways another representative of the asexual movement, especially when it comes to the study of asexuality in academia.

10) Asexuality is relatively common among what male animals? (A: A study published in 2002 examined the mating preferences among adult rams and labeled 15 percent of its sample population as asexual, or not attempting to copulate with either male or female sheep.)

Ok, that study is real, and is interesting, but it’s important to note that the patterns of “asexuality” observed in rams are not a direct correlate to human asexuality, esp. since the dynamics of sex/breeding/etc. are very different between sheep and humans. Also, instances of asexual-seeming behavior have been observed in many species, so I’m not sure that goats/wildebeests are necessarily incorrect answers, but I’d need more info to be sure.

Well, anyway there’s part one. I want to check some other numbers, so if I have corrections I’ll edit them in.

And Part Two:

11) True or false: Asexuality is the same thing as celibacy. (A: false, Asexuality is distinct from celibacy, which is a choice to remain sexually inactive as a resistance against desire and attraction.)

THESE PEOPLE DO NOT KNO HOW TO WRITE TRUE/FALSE QUESTIONS.

Although this time, it states false as correct (as it should) but states “Some, but not all, asexuals define themselves as celibate” as incorrect, despite it actually being a correct statement.

12) Which popular sitcom features an asexual character? (A: Sheldon on "The Big Bang Theory" is a theoretical physicist who also is presumed to be an asexual.)

no. First of all, although people like to sometimes interpret Sheldon as asexual, there’s really no indication in the show that he identifies as asexual. It’s really not a great example of famous asexual characters. If you want to talk about an asexual character, talk anout Gerald Tippert and Shortland Street – that’s a character who’s actually asexual! (It’s a popular NX soap opera, not sure if it could be considered a sitcom. I guess not really.) Or heck, even Sherlock is closer to being a famous “asexual character” – at least there’s more basis for that speculation.

13) The first theoretical report on asexuality referred to non-sexual, intimate relationships as what?(A: In 1993, Esther D. Rothblum and Kathleen A. Brehony wrote the first theoretical exploration of asexuality in a collection of essays titled "Boston Marriages: Romantic but Asexual Relationships among Contemporary Lesbians.")

Fun Fact: the first known theoretical discussion of asexuality (that I know of at least) was actually Myra T. Johnson’s “Asexual and Autoerotic Women” from 1977.

Also, the book they mention was not about asexuality per se, but about asexual (or perhaps more accurately, not-very-sexual) relationships between mostly lesbian-identified women. Although some of them may be considered or similar to asexual homoromantic women, and there are good parallels to be drawn, it’s main focus was not on asexuality as we mean it in this context.

14) Asexuality is associated with what psychological disorder? (A: Asexuality critics have questioned whether the orientation is actually a manifestation of Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder, which is defined as having ‘‘persistently or recurrently deficient (or absent) sexual fantasies and desire for sexual activity.")

First of all, the language of this questions is ambiguous in a rather troubling way –it carries an implication that asexuality is caused by/linked to having HSDD, which seems rather unlikely based on actual research into the matter. (Also, for what its worth, asexuality is also sometimes “associatied” (correctly or not) with Sexual Aversion Disorder. And, actually, it is often “associated” with high rates of trans/nonbinary identities and also Gender dysmorphic disorder too, so…)

15) True or false: Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder affects more women than men. (A: True. Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder is the most commonly reported sexual disorder among women.)

AAAGGGH. Seriously, learn how to write T/F questions (hint: reported equally would fall under “false” for this question)

And yes, it’s true that it’s more reported among women….because it’s largely a bullshit disorder largely based on unreasonable social expectations for women’s sexuality. (I could rant for hours about HSDD).

16) Which of the following isn't a method of asexual reproduction? (A: Asexual reproduction can happen via budding, spore formation and cellular cleaving, or fission.)

Well, and also parthogenesis and some other methods…(Also, spores can be part of both asexual and sexual methods of reproduciton). But yeah, fusion is not a method of reproduction in any life form, so far as I know. But, why is this here? To confuse people? This has nothing to do with asexuality as a sexual orientation.

17) Which of the following is least common among self-identified asexuals? (A: romantic attraction to no-one. According to the 2011 Asexual Census, 43.1 percent were attracted to men, 32.3 percent were attracted to women and 18.2 percent were attracted to no one.)

Of course, this data might be more meaningful with reference to the persons own gender, as in homoromantic/biromantic/etc….guess they never found the updated analysis. (Also, how does this work when you compare just men/just women to attraction to both/all genders?)

18) What's the tongue-in-cheek symbol of the asexual community? (A: Allegedly, the asexual community has adopted a slice of cake as its unifying symbol after an asexual explained his regard for sex thusly: “Between cake and sex, I’d choose cake.”)

Ok, there’s a lot more to the story here, and they basically made up that anecdote, I believe – although it’s one possible origin.

19) What year was homosexuality declassified as a mental illness? (A: Gay rights advocates successfully lobbied the American Psychological Association to remove homosexuality from the Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders in 1973.)

Although, “ego-dystonic homosexuality” (basically, anxiety based on sexual orientation – not a surpising result of being exposed to rampant homophobia/heterosexism) remained in the DSM until 1987, although a vaguer “persistent and marked distress about one’s sexual orientation” is still listed as a possible indicator of a “sexual disorder not otherwise unspecified”

20) The Asexuality Visibility and Education Network (AVEN) community has attracted how many members since 2001? (A: Since asexuality received a flood of media attention in the mid-2000s, AVEN has attracted as many as 30,000 global members.)

ok.

In a more trivial note, why is the corresponding picture of apples and oranges?

(Also, if anyone wants links to sources/citations for anything discussed here, feel free to ask. I should really put links but this is just a forum post and I’m lazy tonight.)

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Ai Elbereth!

I think what upset me most was that they told me "Sherlock" was the wrong answer. :(

You broke my heart, quiz. Broke it.

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I have to say that I hated pretty much every question.

This. That was a terrible quiz. and it made me slightly angry to take it.

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Notte stellata

I think what upset me most was that they told me "Sherlock" was the wrong answer. :(

You broke my heart, quiz. Broke it.

I chose Sherlock too. I think it's stupid to include questions about popular cultural reference. Who says Dr. Who is more asexual than Sherlock? And knowing such things doesn't mean understanding asexuality at any rate.

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Janus the Fox

It appears that the quiz was made from fact snipbits rather than being gained from communities such as AVEN.

Despite this, the quiz should gauge some form of visibility toward the majority, even though it is a little inaccurate.  

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sinisterporpoise

People should be upset over the ultimate hero question. It's not Sherlock or Doctor Who. The ultimate asexual hero is obviously Nikola Tesla.

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Nameless123

That test seems to be designed to make asexual people role their eyes and confuse people who don't really know what asexuality is even further.

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  • 2 weeks later...

A lot of this quiz I felt didn't really have a lot of relevant questions or confused things a bit to be honest. *Was also a bit sad as well when the quiz marked her as incorrect for picking Sherlock Holmes* Although personally, not that possibly asexual characters/ace-icons in pop-culture were really needed on this quiz.

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DreadfulStar

I picked Sherlock Holmes as well. Some of those questions had little or nothing to do with asexuality. And the question about the mental disorders... That was new to me. I got a score of nine.

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Thank you for the quiz link. I was pretty let down by it. It seemed to kind of take everyone's understanding of the word "asexual" and throw it all together, making it very mismatched and, honestly, incorrect. I think it needs to be edited... :wacko:

:cake:

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I really wonder how someone could submit a complaint or a request that material be edited. I glanced around a little, but didn't look too hard, honestly. Maybe someone else could take a look as well?

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