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Eukaryote Writers Blog - How many asexuals are there?


scarletlatitude

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scarletlatitude

https://eukaryotewritesblog.com/2017/02/24/how-many-asexuals-are-there/

4 March 2017

 

Quote

1% of respondents answered with (6), and this is where the “1% of people are asexual” number comes from.
 

Why am I not content with this number?
 

First of all, people sometimes frame this as “1% of the population identifies as asexual.” We have no idea if this is true.

That said, aside from being over a decade old, the question itself likely doesn’t represent the asexual (or potentially asexual) population. Many asexuals do experience sexual attraction, but extremely rarely (depending on how rarely, these people might consider themselves gray-asexual, or just functionally asexual with maybe a handful of exceptions.) Many asexuals experience romantic or aesthetic attraction, and it can be very difficult to distinguish between romantic and aesthetic and sexual attraction if your culture doesn’t give you the affordance for doing so. So even if the households surveyed represent the general population, I would still expect the 1% number to under-represent how many asexual people there are.
 

As a counter-point, it’s also certainly possible to have a low libido or low sexual interest as a result of a physical health-, mental health-, or something else-related, reason. While some people with this camp might permanently identify as asexual, others don’t, or might only realize that their low sexual interest isn’t as innate as they thought once they get treatment, or improve other parts of their lives. Late bloomers might also develop sexual attraction far after their piers. So we’d expect there to be some people who identify as asexual, but actually aren’t (or wouldn’t in better circumstances), as well.
 

Note that in a later piece, Bogaert says that as awareness of asexuality grows, he doesn’t know what the true number is either.

 

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Wow, just read the whole thing and it's really interersting. We do need better survey questions on these things. Recently I've done about three on this kind of subject and I frequently feel frustrated that I can't give an answer I feel really represents where I fit. Perception of romantic, platonic, sensual ... attraction and how they link into sexual behaviour is something I think is also misleading. I know a couple of women who think of sex as a chore and don't enjoy it, but they wouldnever dream of identifying as asexual as they feel romantically for their partner and believe this is attraction. So perception influenced by the society you live in plays an important part in how you view your sexuality. And in an world where sex is used to sell everything, even where it's morally questionable, it has to be having a strong influence on the way people believe they behave and the way they think they should be behaving. Very few people will question these models of behaviour as well, as most don't ask questions about why those models of behaviour have been put there in the first place. I've thought for a long time the 1% thing is far too low.

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