How old were you when you realized your'e an asexual individual? What brought upon the realization?

[Lunala]

For me I've always just "known" - ever since I learnt that sex was a thing, I've never been into it. I've also never gotten crushes on anyone - ever. Not even once. I knew what I was, but I just never knew the word for it until one day .

[Zhuangzi]

It was about this time last year, I was 16, and it just kind of hit me that I was asexual. I had identified as asexual before when I 13, but I told myself that I was too young to know and that I couldn't be anything other than straight (mostly because I was in a very acephobic friend group and my family would not believe me if I told them I was asexual).

[jenrou]

I was around 22. I always had the feeling I wasn't "normal" because I never had any crushes growing up unless someone said "oooh you like them" and I would think "Oh I guess? This is what liking is then??". I had thought about asexuality starting in my late teens as I went to a very LGBT friendly college. I went to my sister's for dinner a few years later and she said "are you asexual?" and I said yes. It was the first time I ever admitted it aloud and accepted it. 

[Dead account 4444]

I was 13 when I found out, (I'm still 13) I'd heard of asexuality but I'd never really thought about it because I always just went "I've had crushes on guys and guys only. Easy, I'm straight" but then I saw a video about someone coming out as demisexual a few weeks ago and I was like "oh wait... I don't want to have sex at all" and I researched asexuality some more and I was like "yeah this is me 100%" 

[i'mjustme]

I guess I was a teen? It wasn't an automatic realization, it was more of a gradual adjustment. I learned the term just by browsing the internet, was interested, started researching and watching youtube videos, began to realize that it was how I felt. I'd always felt different in the sense that sex grossed me out, but I was lucky enough to find the term when I was just beginning to struggle with my sexuality. I didn't officially identify as ace for a couple years after I learned about it, but once I did I felt very comfortable with the term and I knew I'd finally found my definition. 

[Hermit Advocate]

It wasn't really an instant realization for me. I'd known about the term asexual for years, I just didn't really equate myself with a particular sexuality. I just kind of realized that I wasn't interested in sex or relationships like my peers and ignored it for years. Then one day I had an "a sort of subconscious realization that the term asexual actually did apply to me. I was in my early 20's when I actually started self identifying as asexual.