"Asexuality, not to be confused with Celibacy"

[HeidiUK]

Apologies if this has been posted before. It was revised today and I just got a Google Alert in my inbox. So here it is, as edited.

Asexuality, not to be confused with celibacy
People talking about "A-Pride" and AVEN help asexuals "come out"

By Amy Ebersole, Assistant Features Editor

Published: Sunday, January 24, 2010

Updated: Monday, January 25, 2010

Courtesy of www.Asexuality.org

Many doctors say that if someone has no interest in sex, he or she should seek medical help. But asexuals are “coming out,” saying they don’t consider persistent lack of interest to be a problem — they never feel the desire for sex. A T-shirt sold on the AVEN Web site says it all, “It’s not just for amoebas anymore.”

Drive up the Interstate-5 North that runs through Los Angeles. See the wasteland of billboards cloaked in giant-sized cutouts of big-breasted women and muscle-cut men. This long strip of advertisements implies at a well-known secret — sex sells.


In a hyper-sexed culture flooded with infomercials and tabloids, the body can become a product, and sexuality a feature, an instrument for transmitting emotions. Sex serves as more than just flesh and biological makeup. Sex is a cultural cue for conveying love.


So what happens when the very thought of having sex makes someone cringe? What happens when someone suggests that maybe sex is not purely essential for love? These questions are finally getting answers from advocates in the growing asexuality movement.
“I was 14 when I first realized I had no interest in sex,” Jed Strohm, a happily satisfied, romantic asexual from upstate New York, said. “I identified as ace (asexual) and the group leader said I was too attractive.”


Part of the confusion surrounding asexuality can be attributed to misunderstanding what the term actually means. The Asexuality Visibility and Education Network defines an asexual as “A person who does not experience sexual attraction.” This is different from celibacy, which involves abstaining from sex despite having desire. Asexuals, for the most part, never feel the desire to have sex.


For most, this idea is shocking. But according to Dr. Anthony Bogaert’s survey of more than 18,000 people in the United Kingdom, this mindset is a reality for 1 percent of the population.


Until recently, asexuality hasn’t been very visible, in part because there was no term to describe it.


“According to Michel Foucault, the most influential theorist on this topic, ‘homosexuality,’ as a term, only emerged in our cultural lexicon around roughly 1869,” Michael Borgstrom, assistant professor of English and comparative literature at San Diego State, said. “And the term is applied almost exclusively to homosexual men. ‘Lesbian,’ as we understand the term today, did not emerge as an identifiable identity until almost 20 years later.”


Historically, non-heterosexual people have been ostracized from society. But thanks to AVEN, asexuals are finally “coming out.” They are finding each other, having relationships and speaking about asexuality. At the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade last year, a new group of people emerged in the march with signs and shirts that read, “Asexuality: It’s not just for amoebas anymore” and “It’s only underwear. Get over it.”


Alfred Kinsey, commonly known as the founder of sexology, tested different sexual patterns by placing people on a scale ranging from zero, which meant “exclusively heterosexual,” to six, which meant “exclusively homosexual.” But it wasn’t until later that the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction recognized there were people who didn’t fit on this scale. They labeled that group “X,” for people who were asexual.


In the 1990’s, another experiment emerged. Researchers put sexually mature rams into a pen with sexually mature females on multiple occasions, and about 10 percent showed no interest. Those non-interested male rams were then put into a pen comprised solely of males, and about 2 percent of the population didn’t show any interest. These tests illuminate the idea that asexuality is something some mammals may be born with.


On an AVEN forum, a question was presented to asexuals by Kate MacDonald, a psychology student at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia: “Have you always felt asexual, or have you previously experienced sexual attraction to either sex?” The answer almost always was, “I have always felt asexual and have never experienced sexual attraction.”


While this concept may be difficult for some to understand, it is very clear for those who are asexual. Unfortunately, that which is new or not understood is often classified as a disorder.


The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders has caused upheaval in the asexual community because it classifies asexuals as having “hypoactive sexual desire disorder,” implying that asexuality is something to be treated or cured.


“It is important to identify asexuality as a sexual orientation, rather than thinking it is a disorder,” Strohm said. “I use the analogy of a sunset. We can all recognize the beauty of a sunset, but we don’t want to have sex with it. An asexual has the same reaction toward people.”


Though asexual orientation may not garner as much attention as homosexual orientation, the struggle is still significant. Perhaps in the future, universities will have whole classes designated for studying asexuality in gender studies or human sexuality departments, and “LGBT” will expand to include an “A” for asexual.


Until then, keep in mind that some are telling the truth when they say the “just not interested.”


For more information about asexuality, visit AVEN at www.asexuality.org.

What I like is that it gives a little info and in such a way it makes people (I think) think about asexiness in a different light. The sunset idea was good.

Article here. No comments as yet. Perhaps a few of us can put positive ones up (to outweigh the 'typical' responses?

Heidi xx



2015 Mod Edit: New link

Edited August 9, 2015 by ithaca

[knout]

Pretty fair article, interesting read.

The sunset analogy made me laugh :lol:

[ily]

The sunset analogy made me laugh :lol:

Same here, and I think it's a very apt statement.

[Tikva]

Great to see a fair article. And the comments so far (5) aren't negative either.