Is asexuality hereditary?

[Dugy]

My mother is an asexual person, but my father is sexual. They divorced when I was a small child and, as far as I recall, my mother has NEVER been seeing anyone ever again, nor has she ever felt a need to have a man in her life. On the other hand, my father also lives alone for years, though I heard he was very sexual in his younger days.

I am almost completely indeifferent to sex. Can't say that I'm completely asexual, but the very concept is more intimidating than attractive for me. Feel much better and much more comfortable without it, I suppose.

What do you think, could asexuality or low libido be hereditary characteristics, like the eye color or some other physical and non-physical features?

[Slaeyn]

nah

[Lekzýs]

I think it is likely that it could be, at least some of the time. My mother is most likely asexual; a few months ago my father mentioned to me indirectly that they hadn't had sex for years and that she saw absolutely nothing wrong with that. I would say that situation between the two of them had been going on for a long time; possibly even for the last eight years, if I were to give an estimate.

[sonofzeal]

Asexuality correlates fairly well with mild Aspie tendencies in many cases (though not all), and Asperger syndrome have been shown to be hereditary. So I think it's pretty safe to say that for at least some asexuals, where their asexuality is connected to their Aspie tendencies, there is a hereditary component in play.

In plain english - modern science suggests "sometimes yes". But it seems likely to me that there are several root causes, only some of which are hereditary.

[JustJudy]

I think it can likely run in families. Since I have explained my asexuality to my father he says he believes my mother was asexual (she passed away in January), and I know that at least 2 of my 3 sisters have very minimal interest in sex and then there is me who finds sex disgusting. At the same time there are asexual people on here who say they come from very sexual families; so I guess sometimes it runs in the family and sometimes it doesn't. I don't really think there is a genetic link but there could be an environmental link.

[ThePieMaker]

At the same time there are asexual people on here who say they come from very sexual families

That would be me... *sigh*

So I know my asexuality is most definitely not hereditary.

[swamped]

At the same time there are asexual people on here who say they come from very sexual families

That would be me... *sigh*

And me. *sigh*

[Glyn]

I think there's no all-out answer to this. I think there are those who's asexuality has it's roots firmly in genetics. Yet I know my own feelings towards sex are based firmly on my own personal childhood experiances.

I'm sorry I can't be anything more definitive than that!

[cijay]

My mother is an asexual person, but my father is sexual. They divorced when I was a small child and, as far as I recall, my mother has NEVER been seeing anyone ever again, nor has she ever felt a need to have a man in her life. On the other hand, my father also lives alone for years, though I heard he was very sexual in his younger days.

I am almost completely indeifferent to sex. Can't say that I'm completely asexual, but the very concept is more intimidating than attractive for me. Feel much better and much more comfortable without it, I suppose.

What do you think, could asexuality or low libido be hereditary characteristics, like the eye color or some other physical and non-physical features?

Nobody'll convince me that it can't be hereditary. Not that it ALWAYS is/isn't but I believe it can be inherited. Having grandparents who spawned doesn't prove that they were asexual or sexual, gay or straight, it proves that they were fertile. It's what you did in past generations, you got married and had kids. How many of them were simply not intersted in sex but 'had to'? Nobody'll know.

[Sally]

Nobody'll convince me that it can't be hereditary. Not that it ALWAYS is/isn't but I believe it can be inherited. Having grandparents who spawned doesn't prove that they were asexual or sexual, gay or straight, it proves that they were fertile. It's what you did in past generations, you got married and had kids. How many of them were simply not intersted in sex but 'had to'? Nobody'll know.

*Raises hand* A number of us are on AVEN.

[Amcan]

My 13 year old brother has deicded he;s asexual. But he is 13 and puberty has not hit yet.

[Guest]

.

[sasche]

My mother is an asexual person, but my father is sexual. They divorced when I was a small child and, as far as I recall, my mother has NEVER been seeing anyone ever again, nor has she ever felt a need to have a man in her life. On the other hand, my father also lives alone for years, though I heard he was very sexual in his younger days.

I am almost completely indeifferent to sex. Can't say that I'm completely asexual, but the very concept is more intimidating than attractive for me. Feel much better and much more comfortable without it, I suppose.

What do you think, could asexuality or low libido be hereditary characteristics, like the eye color or some other physical and non-physical features?

I HAVE THE SAME SITUATION.

My mother is very asexual. When she was married to my father he often accused her of being a lesbian because she didn't enjoy sex. She divorced him and married another man who she never has sex with anymore and isn't attracted to him at all. She is very aromantic, asexual, no libido, and feminist. -Everything except the feminism I got as well. I hate it too. I've talked to her about it and when I ask her she just laughs and doesn't say anything, which I take to be a validation. If it is hereditary, I want to scream.

[ryan10242]

About as much as homosexuality. Which I don't think is a lot. It's possible that there might be some more asexuals in your family because your family knows more about it than most. There must be other asexuals in the family somewhere along the line.

[peachy]

I think it could possibly be hereditary sometimes but not all the time.

My parents haven't had sex since I was born. My mom's extremely religious and she kinda thinks sex is just for procreation. My dad's a sexual, but I don't think it was ever an issue that he never got any. It's enough for him that he watches porn sometimes. (Yeah, it squicks me out that I know this. lol.)

My older sister had sex with her now ex-bfs, but she said it was thier idea first, not hers. Also, several of my female family members never had sex or got married and didn't bother them one bit.

[Vandybot]

As I've mentioned before, I suspect my sister is asexual. She didn't lose her virginity until just recently, at over 40 years old. From what she's said and what I've heard it seems she doesn't particularly enjoy having sex, but isn't "opposed". It seems she does it more to please her significant other.

I don't think anyone in family is highly sexual. My mom says she never really "loved" the whole thing and thinks it's highly overrated, doesn't see what the fuss is all about.

My brother has, from what I understand, only had sex with one person (his now wife) in his life.

I don't really talk to my dad about these things, but it seems he was perhaps the most sexual in this family.

My mother has also suggested that there are a few females in past generations that might have been asexual.

But yeah, I don't think it's "always" hereditary, I do think it could be in some cases.

[chipmunkgirl]

I know that for homosexuality: if you are homosexual you are statistically more likely to have a homosexual sibling, and if you have an identical twin they are more likely to be homosexual too than if you have a non-identical twin (which points to it being partly genetic). It's also been found that stuff like hormones experienced in the womb or drugs your mother took when she was pregnant with you affect your orientation (i.e. environment).

So it would appear that orientation is determined by a mixture of genetic and environmental factors. I think what goes for homosexuality can also apply to asexuality.

Also, I think it very unlikely that orientation would be determined by a single gene. Complex traits tend to be multi-gene- in other words, many genes work together to form that trait. Asexuality is probably the result of a combination of genes.

[Kvark]

I'd guess it is hereditary but I really don't know.

I think me, mom and one of her brothers are asexual. That is 3 of the 7 relatives I know enough about to guess, 40% asexuality in my family. Finding 3 related asexuals could just be chance. It could also be environment, even though I'm sure they have never heard of asexuality maybe their upbringing didn't push mom and her brother into the sexual tradition, which in turn didn't push me since I saw from their example that it is okay to not be interested in that stuff.

[Acorn]

talking to my mum, it seems that she is not a sexual person, whereas my dad is. so it could be a genetic trait in some families.

[Erita]

I strongly suspect asexuality can be hereditary (and I thank AVEN for making me consider it). I'm sure my parents didn't have sex for years, my father for health reasons, my mother because she didn't care for it. Knowing something about my family history, I also suspect that my mother's father (my maternal grandfather) may have been asexual. I don't know about my maternal grandmother, since she died when my mother was very young.

On my father's side, I know my paternal grandmother never remarried after being widowed when her eldest (my father) was 12, because she said she could never find another man to compare with her husband, but I know that the "devoted widow" role was much more accepted and admired at the time, so I can't say how much that indicates asexuality on her part.

I think asexuality will turn out to be like breast cancer (if you'll excuse the comparison): for some people there is a definite hereditary link, but in most cases the experts can't find any heredary link whatsoever. It doesn't mean that those who have one are any more or less asexual than those who don't!

[ProdeFemme]

I'm open to the idea of predisposition. I'm pretty convinced one of my siblings is asexual as well; there is a 13 year difference between us and I wasn't at home for their childhood so I had little impact. They hate labels though so I don't "make them conform". But they are, I know it :lol:

[foreversomeday]

It always seems to be mothers according to this thread (not that that is scientific at all, lol!) I believe my mother may be asexual, she has told me in the past she enjoys sex only for the intimacy and closeness of it, and after she divorced my father she hasn't had a boyfriend or any sexual partners since, that was 14 years ago.

Maybe it is because in society women are more likely to have sex because their partners want/expect them to than men are? Just a speculation though.

[lostg4ever]

Personally, three of my 6 aunts and uncles who are now 80 have never had a relationship nor expressed any desire to have one. My aunt is not in a relationship and neither is my dad (he hasn't had sex in 20 years) essentially I think it can very well be hereditary. I am asexual and half the people on my dad's side are as well. Everyone on my mom's side are definitely sexual so go figure lol.

[dubious]

I believe it is to a point. My aunt never liked sex, in fact she hated it and after having sex with my uncle she applied alcohol to her genitals and all over her body. Another aunt of mine had never got married or had sex. My first cousin also hasn't got married (he is over 50) but I do not know for sure whether he is asexual or gay. On the other hand my father was hypersexual I would say and my mother is sexual.

[red_brick_dream]

I'm sure certain genes or complexes thereof might simultaneously be hereditary and predispose one to asexuality, but in the end we just don't know. We know that homosexuality has a genetic component some of the time, and some links to early environmental factors have also been observed, but we still don't know the actual mechanisms at work, or what our conception of "sexual orientation" consists of at a neurological level.

The short answer: who knows? I take very much after my mother, for example, and wouldn't be surprised if she were much the same as me, but there are so many factors at work in so many dimensions that it'd be extremely difficult to try and pin down which factors are social, genetic, environmental, or some mix thereof. After all, these things aren't always wholly independent of one another.

[kelsiee]

Well, I know that my mother is asexual (which seems to be common.) and her and my father don't get to have sex very often because of it. I also know that my father is a sexual person. I'm pretty sure my grandmother is at least somewhat asexual, as is my Aunt. (My aunt is also sterile, which could result in that?) However, I'm starting to assume that Asexuality is a rather recessive gene, as in larger families, not as many of the children tend to get it. (I'm not positive though.) Which, would make sense for me, as I got every recessive gene in the book, (such as my mother being cherokee and my father french, and I inheriting rather pale skin.) except for perhaps two things.

Though, I know that childhood experiences have also made me stray from the sexual spectrum. So I think it's both.

[deaddd]

My dad once told me that he had only ever had sex with the intention of conceiving a child. He's kind of religious, though, so I'm not sure if that was by choice, or if he's asexual. If he was, then that would explain a lot. My mom might be as well, since she seems to never have had a problem with my dad's lack of desire for sex.

[Phoenix9]

I think that there's a genetic predisposition. My sibling and I have never really shown interest in the opposite gender and my mom didn't get into a relationship until she was 40 when she married my dad.

[OtherWise]

Just to throw a spanner into the works, I have to point out that I'm asexual and I have a genetically identical twin sister who is sexual. However, I have heard that certain genes can be 'switched on' or 'off' and one otherwise identical twin may have a genetic trait that the other lacks.

She also has a genetic condition known as 'geographic tongue' (where the top layer of the skin on the tongue shifts and causes wiggly lines to appear on the surface) and I don't. I could develop it at a later stage or I could have won the genetic lottery as far as tongues go. It seems rather unfortunate that the twin who is more likely to snog people occasionally has a tongue that looks like the road map of Greater Manchester.

[Scaylen]

Hmm. I think it's a little of both. I really think there is a genetic predisposition to asexuality, or sexuality of any type, but I also think how you're raise has a lot of influence on it as well. But they you get into the whole argument of is a sexuality that you conform to because of how you were raised (and therefore most likely family expectations or pressures or assumption) really the real sexuality, or is the real sexuality so hidden by literally a lifetime of unknown denial that the false sexuality is now considered the real one. In otherwords, being "trained" by the family because of environmental circumstances to the point that it's not even questioned. THis can go for being "trained" to be a minority sexuality as well if that minority is depicted as being more acceptable than a less know minority.

Sorry if this all sound confusing. I say this from my own experience. Until about 5 months ago, I never really though twice about the fact that I was straight and sexual.Then I stumbled upon AVEN and my world got turned upside down.

Now, I am definitively asexual(though possibly demisexual). I suspect my family are as well, though it's not really my place to being saying if they are or aren't. As far as I know, neither of my parents have had sex since I am able to remember. I remember being really confused in middle school when the other kids would start talking about seeing their parents together, and then asking me if I had ever seen my parents together like that and I would just be thinking "Uh, no. Should I have?" I've also always had free access to all parts of the house since I was little, including my parents bedroom/bathroom(there was never any "off-limits room") and I've never found any sex-suggesting items that I remember friends talking about finding when they snuck into their parents bedroom. My parents don't talk about sex much at all, never have, and I never had "THE TALK" with them, because it was like they assumed I wasn't interested(which I wasn't), so I don't really know any details about why they aren't active or anything. And my sister shows even less interest in sex than I do. I'm curious about it because I'm unable to fully understand it, my sister simply wants nothing to do with it at all, even talking or reading about it. I also have two uncles who have never married, and likely never will. But the reason why is unknown to me.

So I really do think there's a strong possibility that sexuality is inheritable, and that it is also strong affected by the family environment.