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Not sure if this has been mentioned in another thread but tvtropes.org has the following entry on asexuality and examples of asexual characters in various media:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Asexuality




2015 Edit: The closest snapshot to this post that I can find of the tvtropes' page on asexuality is from April 21st of 2009, and here it is:



Asexuality

"Sex is more exciting on the screen and between the pages than between the sheets."
-Andy Warhol


In most fiction you encounter tropes involving sexuality. You run into occasions such as Everyone Is Gay, No Bisexuals, Everyone Is Bi, or Anything That Moves. You hear Silly Love Songs about Intercourse With You, and see Love Dodecahedrons, Slap Slap Kissing, oodles of different Shippings, and clumsy attempts to Pair The Spares.

What you don't seem to see are any characters who are of an age or situation to be sexually attracted to someone — but aren't. You don't see any characters who aren't particularly interested in having sex or involving themselves in a relationship with anyone, regardless of how common this is in Real Life.

It is difficult to showcase a lack of something, so it is understandable that this orientation is often ignored, especially when No Hugging No Kissing is the order of the day. However, this also leads to the assumption that everyone is interested in sex, and those who do not experience sexual desire are 'weird' or 'in denial'. This can lead to some very awkward feelings for the asexual audience (small as it may be) when sex is shown to be something everyone does and wants. Note series where sex is the entire driving force. Often, lack of sexuality is associated with mental illness or past sexual abuse. It needs hardly be stated this is rarely the case, as is the misconception that psychopaths are asexuals.

It should be noted, however, that asexuals are not necessarily incapable of sex or falling in love. Asexuality is often the lack of sexual attraction rather than sex drive or emotional attraction. As such, asexuals who are more indifferent to sex rather than actively averse to it may be quite capable of sex andmasturbation (though the latter is more of a mode of release —er, so to speak— rather than being directed towards an object of attraction or desire) if they need to. Asexuals in a romantic relationship with sexual individuals, for example, may have no problem having intercourse with his or her partner for the sake of said relationship even if the act itself may not have the same significance or appeal as it would to sexual individuals. Unlike the aforementioned fully sexual individuals, asexuals do not actively desire said sexual actions and will not miss said acts at all if denied to them.

As of yet, few examples of asexuality in popular media exist. This is the direct opposite of Anything That Moves and frequently a victim of the belief that Good People Have Good Sex. See also Celibate Hero and Non Threatening Lust Object.

Not to be confused with the biological term asexuality, which describes an organism that reproduces by itself without meiosis, ploidy reduction, or fertilization.


Examples

Anime and Manga

  • According to Fanon, at least, Shigeru Aoba from Neon Genesis Evangelion. In End of Evangelion, when everyone else subjected to Instrumentality saw friends and loved ones, Aoba simply screamed as he was embraced by nude Rei clones. Or maybe he was really gay/straight/bi and had just never met that special someone in all his days. Or maybe he got stuck with the default setting, since he's a minor character with little screen time to show any interest. Or maybe he just wants to have sex with a million naked Reis. Eh, Rule 34. The heart wants what the heart wants. And if it wants an exploding army of 14-year-old girls, who are we to judge?
    • Word Of God says that he saw Rei because he's a nihilist. Everyone else saw Rei as the illusion of whatever they desired so that they would willingly lower their AT Fields. Aoba desired nothing, so the Reis forced their way through his.
  • The Obsidian Lord (Black Prince, whatever) from Mai-HiME comments that his plan is to seduce Mai to The Dark Side; her friends and family are disappearing or hate her, she more or less gives herself to him, and he does nothing. Even Nagi questions him on this. He says there are more subtle ways of corruption and claiming her heart and not just her body, but he does nothing to further getting her to emotionally need him. Ultimately it looks like this was a lost opportunity based on his not knowing what to do.
  • Sawada from Tekkonkinkreet has explicitly stated a lack of interest in women, and from his comments "I'm frigid" and "never had an orgasm" it's implied the lack of interest extends to men as well. In defiance of stereotypes, though, he's not in any way "sick" and is actually the most compassionate adult in the movie.
  • A lot of characters in Guyver could be considered asexual. Agito, Aptom, possibly all the Zoalords even. Though the main character sure isn't at least.
  • Knives Millions from Trigun shows indications of being this. He finds humans to be completely vulgar, which would therefore extend to him not being romantically interested in any of them. Although there is much Fan Wank pairing him with his brother Vash, there is no solid evidence that he is romantically or sexually interested in his brother.
  • Taikoubou AKA Fukki from Houshin Engi: He never shows any romantic interest in any of the female (or male) characters. Though it probably didn't help that the only female character that was chasing him was an incredibly hideous monster. And it probably didn't help that he was actually an ancient alien. He can also be an example of a Celibate Hero.
  • Train from Black Cat seems to be. He is disgusted at the idea of pretending to be beautiful Rinslet's lover, and is even more disgusted by Kyoko's numerous attempts to kiss and make out with him (in the anime, he always pushes a cat in front of his face so she kisses it instead of him). He is also very creeped out by Creed's overt sexual innuendo and obsession with him. Canonically, it is even revealed that Train thought of Saya not romantically at all (denying that they were "like that" without much hesitation), and that she had a special place in his heart as his (first) close friend.
  • According to the Light Novels, Ennis from Baccano!'s sexuality and understanding of it was rudimentary at best, thanks to the manner in which she was "born." The end result is that her relationship with Firo was pretty much No Hugging No Kissing for over fifty years.
  • Hibari from Katekyo Hitman Reborn seems to be. He shows absolutely no romantic feelings of love for men or women, and it's pretty hard to imagine him ever really falling in love (considering that even at the age of 25-26, he's still a recluse). In fact, despite being incredibly handsome, he pretty much scares off any people who approach him. He's too busy enforcing "discipline" and having pseudo-romantic obsessions with people who are strong.
  • Lloyd of Code Geass notes that he is engaged to Milly Ashford in order to further his research, saying that he has absolutely no interest in females, and it seems unlikely that he really has any interest in anything but his mechas either
  • Doesn't Chad from Bleach qualify? He is so uninterested into such kind of thing that his image of a female is a lipstick-wearing person. And the way he he reacted when he imagined Ichigo's sister (Ichigo with black, shoulder-lenght hair and lipstick) makes one conclude that his interest on males doesn't really exist, too...
  • The Weiss Kreuz short story "Ranjatai" implies that Aya is asexual, with the narration making something of a point of his lack of sexual attraction to Shizu.

Comic Book

  • Max from Sam And Max doesn't like girls. He prefers violence. In the game Chariots of the Dogs, he mentions that with all the general malice he has to do in a day, girls are just a huge waste of time. The game was also going to explain that Max was turned off girls during a game of spin the bottle where he had to kiss Sam's (female) cousin, but this was scrapped.
  • Rorschach of Watchmen, due to his exposure to his mother's prostitution. Anything sexual or romantic seems to revolt him. Some fans think he might be in the closet, but he's too obsessed with his vigilante activities to care about anything else.
    • To be fair, of all the characters in Watchmen, Ozymandias is the best reflection of real life asexuality. In a graphic novel which features the sexualities of all the major and several of the minor characters, Ozymandias's is not ever mentioned or displayed in any way. Rorschach, on the other hand, comes across as repressed, but not truly asexual in the sense of the sexual orientation.

Film

  • The film Marie Antoinette seemed to portray Louis XVI as asexual, avoiding sex with his wife and apparently uninterested in the men and women of the court as well. In real life, it's unclear whether he didn't desire sex or had a dysfunction making the act difficult.
    • The third possibility is that he was just plain clueless about sex. They had several children after one of Marie's brothers had a long talk with Louis.
  • Similarly, Finding Neverland did this with JM Barrie. In real life, the youngest Davies brother said "I don't believe [barrie] ever experienced what one might call 'a stirring in the undergrowth' for anyone — man, woman, or child. He was an innocent — which is why he could write Peter Pan."

Literature

  • Sherlock Holmes. Despite what the Ho Yay! fans say about him and Watson.
  • Played with in Bruce Sterling's Schismatrix, a science fiction novel - a group of asteroid colonists are all rendered asexual via a sort of chemical castration; the hero agrees to turn off his sexuality in exchange for the colonists' diplomat amping hers up with drugs. This leads to an extremely squicky sex scene.
  • The Patrician in Discworld seems to be uninterested in anything apart from running the city, the occasional game of chess or Thud, drinking boiled water, and reading music (he dislikes played music because it involves bodily exertion, and all the messiness that entails; presumably sex would be the same but more so).
  • Greg Egan's novel Schild's Ladder has a scene where a previously-virtual character falls off the bed laughing at how ridiculous the whole thing is.
  • The Red Adept from Piers Anthony's Apprentice Adept series. Many thought she was a Psycho Lesbian, before he Jossed that with a statement in the final book, stating that "the Red Adept was not a lesbian."
  • The eponymous heroine of Elizabeth Moon's The Deed of Paksenarrion trilogy receives several propositions from fellow soldiers in her mercenary company, but turns them all down, explaining that she's never been interested in sex. Near the end of the book, this plays a part when she allows herself to be raped and tortured in order to buy the freedom of the rightful king. The rape fails to have any effect on her psyche, becoming just another form of pain she has to endure. The fallout from that incident turns into a Crowning Moment Of Awesome as her loyalty is rewarded.
  • In Sheridan Hay's The Secret of Lost Things, the character Oscar is stated to have no romantic or sexual interest in anyone of either gender — unfortunately for the heroine, who's in love with him.
  • Tarma, one of the two female main characters in the Vows and Honor series by Mercedes Lackey, is magically bound to her goddess, and one of the consequences of this bond is that she feels no sexual desire whatsoever. (Her goddess is very into the whole Celibate Hero thing.)
  • Detective Hercule Poirot from Agatha Christie's mystery fiction shows absolutely no interest in sex or romantic relationships, whether it's with women or men.
  • Sir Perceval, the heroine of Elizabeth Bear's Dust, is canonically asexual (although the word she uses is "celibate").
  • Many of the protagonists in H. P. Lovecraft's stories are interpreted as asexuals by a number of readers due to the strictly No Hugging No Kissingnature of Lovecraft's works. Some even extend this to the author himself, though that is debatable at best.
  • Rachael Ghorbani, from John Ringo's Council Wars series likens her own asexuality to being color-blind or tone-deaf. She simply doesn't understand the attraction of sex and finds the physical implications revolting.
  • John Varley's Steel Beach posits a future society where neutering oneself is actually a fairly common lifestyle choice since it's easily reversible and technology has essentially divorced sex from reproduction anyway.

Live Action TV

  • Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory.
    • Heavily toyed with in an episode where Sheldon gets an attractive female groupie, for lack of a better word. "What's his deal? Girls? Guys? Sock puppets?" The theories they have about him...
  • Monk from the show of the same name. Even with the wife he dearly loves.
    • In one episode he would rather sing showtunes for 45 minutes than discuss his love-life with Trudy. While he could be eager to avoid it for other reasons (Indeed, his unwillingness to have sex might have been the one sore spot in the marriage), Occam's Razor says thats just a topic he will never discuss.
  • Dexter, at least in the first season. In the second and third season, he becomes more human in general. Fortunately for the viewer, his bloodlust remains.
  • Brass Eye: "Well, throughout tonights program, we've had a naked asexual man up a stick, watching some pornography. Have you reached any conclusions?" *Asexual man shakes his head.* "Well, I hope that's been of some help."
  • The Doctor, onscreen, at least. He does have a granddaughter, (or at least used to) and all manner of Epileptic Trees have sprouted as fans try and explain away her existence in a way that means the Doctor never did what one typically needs to do in order to have any descendants - a rare example of the fandom wanting a character to be asexual. And whatever he might've done hundreds of years ago, it's certainly No Hugging No Kissing now. Or at least No Kissing. Well... except to remove time vortexes or temporarily distract alien cops by leaving alien DNA on his sidekick-to-be. Or if someone else just plants one on him. Or he's just feeling really affectionate.
    • This troper would like to point out the (dubiously canon) Loomsexternal_link.gif, which weave together the DNA of the two Timelord parents.
    • It's quite likely most non-renegade Time Lords are asexual, for the simple reason they'd probably be physically sick when told what's involved.
      • Not to mention that Gallifrey would become overpopulated within decades, given their lifespans, if they reproduced as enthusiasticallyquickly as humans.
    • "Well, you're a beautiful woman, probably."
  • 30 Rock: Liz Lemon is, at best, ambivalent towards sex, devoting her passions instead to food. She once described a favorable sexual relationship as being quick and only on Saturdays.

Music

  • Diane Warren, an extremely prolific writer of Silly Love Songs, says she has never been in love and doesn't enjoy dating. This may be why her songs often seem a bit... off.
  • Singer Morrisey, formerly lead vocal of The Smiths, has consistently maintained for over 20 years that he is asexual (although he's hinted recently that he's changed his mind on that account).

Video Games

  • Psycho Mantis, at least in fanon.
  • The Ace Attorney series has Miles Edgeworth, who has clearly shows no interest in women. Twice during the series, a female witness (a Hello Nurseand a Purity Sue, actually a Magnificent Bastardess pretending to be Purity Sue, respectively) is called to testify and has the whole court falling in love with her within seconds. Edgeworth is the only person who doesn't seem to notice. He also has numerous fangirls within the series, but a line in the third game shows that he is completely unaware of this fact even though several of them have openly flirted with him. Some fans take this as evidence that he is gay, but others say that there is just as little evidence of attraction to men, making Edgeworth asexual.
  • The Master Chief from the Halo Universe and associated games. One of the results of the body transforming augmentation he and fellow Spartans were put through severely curtails their sex drive.
    • This does not, however, stop people from pointing to his interactions with Cortana and claiming that there is something going on there.
      • Of course, even if it is so it doesn't make him less assexual, since assexuals can have emotional relationship, only don't feel the need for sex - and, considering Cortana is an AI...

Webcomics

  • A character in Ellen's alternate dream life is stated to be "nonsexual" in El Goonish Shive. Doesn't stop her from pressuring him into sleeping with her in what has to be one of the bigger Wall Banger moments.
  • Ellipsis in the Web Comic Saturnaliaexternal_link.gif is asexual, although she prefers calling herself a nonsexual. "I don't like using the word 'asexual'... It makes me sound like a sea-sponge or a lizard of some sort."
  • Grey from the webcomic Inhuman is described by the author as asexual.
  • Hannelore has been known to admire the male formexternal_link.gif, but given that she her severe OCD leads to panic attacks and hyperventilation when somebody casually hugs her, sex is pretty much right out.
  • Collin in Friendly Hostility has described himself as asexual (particularly while he was a Boy Meets Boy character), but it turned out he was wrong (and gay, instead). He just dislikes people.

Web Original

  • Bobby Jacks of Survival Of The Fittest has been clearly shown to hold absolutely no attraction to anybody. Even when he suspects a fellow classmate has a crush on him his reaction can be summed up as 'Hm. Interesting'

Western Animation

Truth In Television

  • Current research states that this applies to about 1% of the human race.
  • King Charles XII of Sweden was a perfect example of this trope. Reportedly, he spent his whole life avoiding romantic and/or sexual relationships with women (or men, for that manner), as he considered them a waste of time: he was too busy leading his wars against other European nations, in particular against the much bigger and stronger Tsarist Russia.
  • Famous polar explorer Roald Amundsen was probably asexual, which would have been a real advantage for a man prone to multi-year polar expeditions.
  • Nikola Tesla was either this or celibate; he was of the opinion that women would only serve as a distraction from his scientific endeavors. Considering how successful he was, he may have been right....
  • Isaac Newton was probably asexual, although evidence from a relationship with a younger man suggests that he may have been a latent homosexual. However, he seemed to eschew human relationships in general, focusing more on physics, alchemy, and Bible prophecy.
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Y'know, there was a thread on asexuality in the fora there a while ago. Can't remember where it is now, though.

Overall it's a pretty ace-friendly site--I hang out there a lot, and I know at least two other openly-ace tropers there as well who regularly post in the fora.

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Nice too see asexuality is not (completely) confined to this site or other sites only dedicated to the topic of asexuality.

I also like the way they describe asexuals / asexuality in the short article. ^_^

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OH NO! NOBODY GO TO TVTROPES!

You'll never return... well, for some hours at least. :(

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i particularly liked what that site said about sherlock holmes

cheers for posting :)

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mad_scientist

I love tvtropes! There seem to be an unusually high number of openly asexual contributors too, or (more likely) I just notice them more when they state it. It comes up in tropertales a lot anyway; it might just be the same few people though.

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That page was actually the place where I originally heard of asexuality.

I was clicking around TVtropes, (and yes it did end up eating the entire day) and somehow I ended up on that very page. I didn't think much of it then, but it planted an idea in my head.

One week later, I popped the term into Google, and Voila! I had found AVEN, and now I know much more about myself because of it.

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Cool site. I hadn't heard of it before. One highlight for me:

Brass Eye: "Well, throughout tonights program, we've had a naked asexual man up a stick, watching some pornography. Have you reached any conclusions?" *Asexual man shakes his head.* "Well, I hope that's been of some help."

Man, I didn't even notice that when I watched it. That was before I associated with the word.

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Asterion Orestes
OH NO! NOBODY GO TO TVTROPES!

You'll never return... well, for some hours at least.

All too true. :o

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that_american_kid
OH NO! NOBODY GO TO TVTROPES!

You'll never return... well, for some hours at least. :(

...I should have read this before I clicked on the link :D

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momotroniuity
OH NO! NOBODY GO TO TVTROPES!

You'll never return... well, for some hours at least. :(

You can hear the siren song now. ;)

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