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gender statistics


eyore

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so does anyone know if there is any data anywhere on whether asexuals are equally male and female? or is one gender over represented? most of the posts i have read seem to be from women. at least the "older" posters. just wondering? heterosexuals and homosexuals seem to be pretty evenly represented by both genders. transsexuals seem to be predominately male switching to female. cross-dressers (is that even considered a sexual orientation?) again seem to be predominantly male. but, then again, women can dress in pants and shirts and not even be considered to be cross-dressing.

anyway, that last was off subject. just wondering

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Yeah, it does seem like the number of female asexuals outnumber males. At least, that's what it's like on AVEN. As for the real statistics out there in the population...no one can be 100% sure. Mostly because a lot of asexuals aren't even aware of their own orientation, or of AVEN for that matter. And there's more pressure in society for males to be sexual...which may explain why there seems to be less of them on AVEN. Perhaps a lot of asexual males (unaware of their asexuality and surrounded by their sexual friends) will continue to try being sexual because that's the image society expects them to be like. They may just think, "I must be a late bloomer or maybe I haven't found the right person, since afterall all guys must like sex, right???" and so it won't occur to them that asexuality is a valid orientation.

Also, it could be said that people on forums are more the introverted types on average, or at least they like to use the internet. There could however, be many extroverted non-internet-using asexuals out there who have been unaccounted for.

So basically, until there's more awareness of asexuality in society, it's difficult to know the right numbers.

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Note that there are quite a few transsexuals of all flavors, so I wouldn't say there's any predominance here. There also seems to be a comparatively higher number of intersexed people on the boards. Lastly, there appears to be a much higher number of people who feel closer to being genderless.

Of course, that sample isn't representative so you couldn't even extrapolate the results to the whole of the English-speaking, Internet-using population, let alone the whole world.

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  • 5 weeks later...

Hi, Eyeore! :)

so does anyone know if there is any data anywhere on whether asexuals are equally male and female? or is one gender over represented?

This poll: http://www.asexuality.org/en/index.php?showtopic=24599 with over 600 votes, suggests that most AVENites are female.

transsexuals seem to be predominately male switching to female

I have probably met an even number of both here, or perhaps more FtM.

cross-dressers (is that even considered a sexual orientation?) again seem to be predominantly male

Not an orientation, but you might be surprised here. Look at the AVEN thread Post a picture of yourself in drag . It is mainly women. ;)

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I think we've got more neutrois and genderqueer than is usual, actually. I remember awhile back there were a lot of topics asking if you felt genderless or outside the gender binary, and a lot of people said they do, even if it's not to the degree that they'd want to get surgery or anything.

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cross-dressers (is that even considered a sexual orientation?) again seem to be predominantly male

Not an orientation, but you might be surprised here. Look at the AVEN thread Post a picture of yourself in drag . It is mainly women. ;)

I'm a male crossdresser, and a hetero-romantic. Crossdressers' sexual orientation tends to fall into simlar percentages as any other group from what I've read.

I may have to see about posting a pic to that thread if I ever get a decent pic and the nerve to post it! :lol:

I rarely get all dolled up anyway, mostly a mix of some female garments and male mode, like a t-shirt and skirt just around the house. The few times I've gotten all made up was someone else doing the making up. Just not dedicated enough to practice enough to get good at it myself. I don't know how so many women do it everyday!

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  • 1 month later...

You (original poster) are confusing sexual orientation with gender. Gender is how you think about yourself in regards to your sex. Sexual orientation is who you are sexually and romantically attracted to. Transexuals, genderqueer or bigender (cross dressers) can have any sexual orientation.

AVEN isn't any guide for statistics on asexuality because people on AVEN aren't a representative sample of asexuals. To join AVEN and especially to come here often, a person needs to have

1 Gone through serious soul searching about their sexuality

2 Taken on an "asexual identity" (ie, willing to group their sexuality as more similar to asexuals than sexuals)

3 Have the mindset that having an asexual identity is ok morally, religiously, socially etc

4 Have web access

5 Speak decent English

6 Desire to socialize with other asexuals online

It seems to me that regarding gender, asexual men are more likely to fail 3 because a stereotype of males is to have a strong libido. Men are also more likely to fail 6 because statistically women favor social websites over men (Facebook and Myspace, eg). That leaves more asexual women to show up here which matches polls. Of course, if there are 1% asexuals, there are 30 million American asexuals alone. AVEN is a drop in the bucket.

It does seem AVEN has more transgender and intersex people which makes total sense to me. All trans and intersex people go thru 1 anyway, even sexuals, and because we've taken un-orthodox genders, un-orthodox sexuality is a small step.

May I ask what the point of the question is? Being genderqueer, I'm always suspicious when someone asks about any kind of gender statistics. If there are twice as many female asexuals than male, would it change anything compared to their being twice as many males?

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(Hey, Ephilei, the opening poster hasn't been seen 'round these parts since a few days after that post was made, so I'll reply to your post in a sort of general way.)

Of your list of six criteria that a person has to meet in order to be an active AVEN member, I think that number 4 is the only one that will hold true consistently.

I have seen all sorts of people in all sorts of situations come to AVEN. In the last few years it seems that our new members include more and more young people whose "asexuality" SEEMS to be more akin to sexual aversion, perhaps stemming from very poor social skills coupled with the natural tendency of many teens to question virtually ALL aspects of the status quo.

I blame the poor social skills that seem so common today on our ever-increasing use of TV screens for not only entertainment, but social contact as well. It's no wonder that real life relationships are suffering. On top of that, AIDS and other STDs are constantly in the media, and being seen as a "late bloomer" (or a late anything!) seems to be the social kiss of doom for teens.

Embracing an alternative sexuality might be the path of least resistance in some cases, at least for a few years, and it could feel perfectly natural while it lasts. Time will tell.

My personal feeling is that a LOT of our younger members who currently identify as asexual will eventually decide that they are sexual after all - that they were simply a lot more choosy about their relationships than their more promiscuous peers. Others will always identify as asexual. I have no idea how to distinguish one from another. I doubt if even the people themselves can say for certain since none of us know the future. In the long run I don't think it matters.

I think the higher-than-average percentage of gender variant AVENites is an interesting statistic, and I have privately suspected that it is because those closer to the center of the gender spectrum are not as subject to the "opposites attract" phenomena as are those who are strongly polarized as either masculine or feminine. Strongly gender-polarized asexuals seem to be rather rare, at least according to my observations.

It's an interesting topic, that's for sure.

-GB

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I've noticed a lot more people who are genderless, as in don't feel they have any gender identity, not even identify as neither male nor female (neutrois/agender). I wonder if that's more common on AVEN than elsewhere. Obviously trans sites typically have people who feel much more strongly about their gender identity, enough for it to be a problem, while most who are genderless seem to feel gender is just based on biology and have a bit of trouble understanding that it's not, so it's hard to get a grasp.

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