Looking for research papers on asexuality and hormones

[Another One]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm helping my friend, an asexual visibility activist, to prepare a lecture for a group of local medical students. We're interested in particular in any research on asexuality and endocrinology, because many people believe that asexuality might be caused by, or associated with, hormonal imbalance. Does anyone know about any published research of this kind?

 

[Mezzo Forte]

Wish I could help in that regard, but I don't know of any research off the top of my head. (I'm a music scholar, so I know more on that front.) I wonder if there's anything out there related to ace trans people's experiences that could help you though. I can at least say that my pre-transition hormone levels were 100% typical of an AFAB person and that taking testosterone did not change my orientation, even during the points when I suspected that my T levels might have been too high. (I'm 2+ years into HRT, so my orientation is very unlikely to shift at this point.)

[Pramana]

To the best of my knowledge, despite some speculation in the academic literature that hormonal or other physiological issues could explain some apparent cases of asexuality, there has yet to be any research directly on the topic. There is a study which found that asexual women exhibited similar arousal patterns as sexual women, leading the authors to conclude that at least among their sample group asexuality wasn't produced by a sexual dysfunction (although the small sample group of only seven asexual participants limits the generalizability of the results).

http://med-fom-brotto.sites.olt.ubc.ca/files/2014/12/Brotto-Yule-2011-Physiological-subjective-sexual-arousal-in-asexual-women-2675.pdf

[LeChat]

Researcher Anthony Bogaert listed research in his book, "Understanding Asexuality," about asexuality and hormones.

 

It was similar to this article, from http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160621-i-have-never-felt-sexual-desire 

 

Quote

Bogaert, a professor of health Sciences and psychology at Brock University, has continued to dedicate his career to the study of asexuality. His book, Understanding Asexuality, the first of its kind, was published in 2012. He maintains, however, that our understanding is limited, and that it’s an area that demands further study. “More research needs to be done on the origins of asexuality,” he says. “There are studies suggesting that asexuality is affected by early biological factors such genetics, prenatal hormones affecting early brain development. Just like other sexual orientations asexuality likely has an early biological origin, or at least an early biological predisposition.”

One of the assumptions around asexuality is that the lack of sexual libido could be related to a hormonal deficiency. This can lead to the idea that an asexual person’s lack of desire extends beyond the realm of sexuality and, like a testosterone deficiency, leads to apathy in other areas of life. “I think we need to leave open the possibility that some asexual people have atypical circulating hormones, but there is not much evidence that this is generally the case for most asexual people,” says Bogaert. “Besides, some asexual people may still have some form of libido – but it just isn’t connected to others.”

 

Also, some cisgender members on AVEN have mentioned that they did get their hormones checked and that their levels were normal.

[Anony-moose]

Anthony Bogaert's "Understanding Asexuality" is a good academic book. As for endocrinology, I don't know any, sorry!

 

Maybe also searching in sites like Academia.edu can help you find something?

[DarkStormyKnight]

I don't know of any off the top of my head, but you could try perusing here?