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Notable Asexuals


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I thought someone must have done this already, but I couldn't find anything when I looked! :o

If this is a repost, could someone post a link to the original? Thanks!

I just thought it would be fun to make a list of notable asexuals (real and fictional.) I realize some of these are up for debate, so feel free to debate! I'm sure you've all already heard a lot of these names...

My list so far:

Real

  • Edward Gorey (called himself "undersexed")
  • Nikola Tesla? (never married, wasn't interested in women who were attracted to him, a bit asocial? allegedly fell in love with a pigeon :blink: )
  • Emilie Autumn (identifies as asexual)

Fictional

  • Sherlock! (if you haven't seen it, he basically says it outright in the first episode and it's implied in the first episode of the second series)
  • The Doctor? (I've been told the Doctor is asexual, but I don't see how that works with River Song and Rose...)
  • Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory (I don't watch it, it's just what I've been told)

It's weird that the majority of asexuals on AVEN are apparently female while the majority of notable asexuals are male... Interesting.

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KristyMisty

Morrissey! I mean, someone correct me if I'm wrong on that, but I'm pretty sure he is.

As for fictional, I agree on Sherlock Holmes being an ace, and then maybe the character L from the anime Death Note...

And I think I came across a prose poet who was also asexual a while back, but I really can't remember her name right now.

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Janus the Fox

There's a whole list of notable Asexuals in the Notable Asexuals section of the Asexuality Wikipedia page. Unfortunately fictional characters seem to lack the 11th doctor who and Shirlock, but they included the asexual character from House though. :blink:

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There's a great list over ace fictional characters ("great" because we tropers constantly try to weed out the obviously-purely-fanon-speculation) over at tv trope's Asexuality article.

There used to be a similar list there over real life asexuals, but it got a bit weird when people started adding random historical figures. I think both Jesus and Buddha frequented it for a while. *facepalm*

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Most people tend to forget Janeane Garofalo and Tim Gunn. No love.

But I really don't see the point of adding fictional characters. Technically under that list Bert and Ernie should be added, but I don't really see the point. Many fictional characters can appear asexual mainly because the author just never thought to make up a love interest for them, or sex was never figured into the plot, which is the deal with many books.

Also, it seems like "asexual" characters pointed out are aromantic, and no wonder most people might confuse asexuality with not being able to be in love since all the asexual characters we point at are aromantic, which doesn't necessarily mean that they are asexual, just that they don't want to get into relationships with people. Like people hold up the Sheldon character as "totes asexy" but then when people assume that we are unemotional, and unable/unwilling to enter in to romantic relationships, we think that they are ignorant about asexuality, when they are taking that information from "asexual approved" fictional characters.

Sure it may be harder to find a romantic asexual character, but instead of trying to connect with fictional people, why not real ones? At least then you can point out the diversity of the asexual community instead of stereotypes. Like with Tim Gunn is a homoromantic asexual, Janeane Garofalo is a heteroromantic asexual, David Jay is biromantic (?), I just remember him saying that he has dated both men and women so I am just guessing.

I am not saying to put these real people on a pedestal, but when someone is looking for an example of an asexual person, it makes sense to not refer to a fictional character.

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MinusCelsius

I very much agree with Mismatched. Fictional characters can easily give people a wrong impression of the whole asexual population. These characters are stereotypes and fulfill a function in a fictional world. It's like making a list of fictional homosexuals. You would very likely not have the average Joe in his mid-fifties and his same-age-range partner of 30 years (who both very certainly exist as real people), but a long list of Brian Kinneys.

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The Great WTF

What Mismatched said. I also feel the need to point out that, as far Steven Moffat is concerned, Sherlock Holmes is a heterosexual celibate because asexual character are just not interesting story-wise to him. This is one of the reasons I think emphasizing poteltial asexual characters is a bad idea. Their creators can have very different opinions.

I beliece Sir Arthur Conan Doyle designes the original Sherlock Holmes to be asexual, but very few of his adaptations have been since.

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*rubs temples*

For all the reasons above and in my vLog, let's not debate over fictional characters. Interpretation is as interpretation does.

And for the real people, no speculations, please. Only self-identified asexuals. We don't want someone's PR agent breathing down our necks.

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Morrissey goes back and forth on it. My understanding is that he's currently in a sexual relationship. he's said he is asexual, but he's said a lot of other things too. Personally I think he just likes people being curious about it.

Janeane Garofalo for sure!

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As to using cartoon or fictional characters to declare Asexuality it's a rather dissapointing and wrongfull thing to do. It gives the impression that Asexuality is as fake as the programmes are. As to Morrissey I think the man is such an idiot that he confuses asexuality with the lack of people stupid enough to put up with him.

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I read somewhere that Nicola Tesla said himself he was asexual. He was also the Master of Lightning, so that makes him cool.

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What Mismatched said. I also feel the need to point out that, as far Steven Moffat is concerned, Sherlock Holmes is a heterosexual celibate because asexual character are just not interesting story-wise to him. This is one of the reasons I think emphasizing poteltial asexual characters is a bad idea. Their creators can have very different opinions.

I beliece Sir Arthur Conan Doyle designes the original Sherlock Holmes to be asexual, but very few of his adaptations have been since.

I totally agree with you on Doyle. As for Steven Moffat he does seem to contradict himself, 'couse this is what was posted on the subject in another post... Seems like he can't make up his mind...

Re Sherlock's asexuality ...

This is what Steven Moffat and Mark Gattis say about Sherlock's orientation in the Ep 1 commentary:

-------------------

Steven: This is one of the supposedly controversial things ... actually a subject we never discussed at all, Sherlock's sexuality, because although people talk about it being ambigious and mysterious, the books are completely clear: he's not interested, at all. He's interested in what his brain is doing, not the other end of his body.

Mark: All the rest is transport.

Steven: Yes, all the rest is transport, was a line in the pilot but not here. But you know people say he shows no interest in women, therefore he must be gay. He shows no interest in men, either! It's not what he does.

-------------------

Sounds pretty asexual, really.

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The Great WTF

What Mismatched said. I also feel the need to point out that, as far Steven Moffat is concerned, Sherlock Holmes is a heterosexual celibate because asexual character are just not interesting story-wise to him. This is one of the reasons I think emphasizing poteltial asexual characters is a bad idea. Their creators can have very different opinions.

I beliece Sir Arthur Conan Doyle designes the original Sherlock Holmes to be asexual, but very few of his adaptations have been since.

I totally agree with you on Doyle. As for Steven Moffat he does seem to contradict himself, 'couse this is what was posted on the subject in another post... Seems like he can't make up his mind...

Re Sherlock's asexuality ...

This is what Steven Moffat and Mark Gattis say about Sherlock's orientation in the Ep 1 commentary:

-------------------

Steven: This is one of the supposedly controversial things ... actually a subject we never discussed at all, Sherlock's sexuality, because although people talk about it being ambigious and mysterious, the books are completely clear: he's not interested, at all. He's interested in what his brain is doing, not the other end of his body.

Mark: All the rest is transport.

Steven: Yes, all the rest is transport, was a line in the pilot but not here. But you know people say he shows no interest in women, therefore he must be gay. He shows no interest in men, either! It's not what he does.

-------------------

Sounds pretty asexual, really.

Yet another thing I dislike about the man. I think originally he tried to write Holmes as asexual and found that he couldn't, so instead of fessing up to it he just tried to change direction. Everything I've seen from the man hinges on sexual tension (Jekyll, his run on Doctor Who...) and I really don't think he's capable of continuing a story without it. A few months ago he outright stated that he (now) believes Doyle's Holmes is clearly celibate heterosexual (because he shows no interest in men) and, upon outcry from his fanbase, stated that an asexual Sherlock just wouldn't be interesting enough. :rolleyes:

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The only confirmed "asexual-as-we-mean-it" famous person that I'm aware of is Keri Hulme, the New Zealand author. Everyone else, I'm not inclined to accept without more direct evidence. Sure, they've described themselves as "asexual", but a quick trip to Twitter or Tumblr will show you a lot of people use the word differently than we do. In particular, if someone came to the Welcome Lounge and posted exactly what Emilie Autumn said about being asexual, everyone would be scratching their head in confusion and asking tons of clarifying questions. It would definitely be awesome if some of these people were asexual in the "no sexual attraction" sense, but unless they say that's what they are, be skeptical.

I wrote about this here: http://www.asexualityarchive.com/that-word-i-do-not-think-it-means-what-you-think-it/

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Guest member25959

But I really don't see the point of adding fictional characters. Technically under that list Bert and Ernie should be added, but I don't really see the point. Many fictional characters can appear asexual mainly because the author just never thought to make up a love interest for them, or sex was never figured into the plot, which is the deal with many books.

I love you for pointing this out. <3

Let's not get onto speculating a fictional character's sexuality. No, in fact, you can speculate, but what's the point in building a ''X is asexual because they show no interest in sex!!1'' list, really?

Unless the said character has specifically said that they're asexual (Gerald Tippett, for example), or it's stated in the script/storyline, then it's best not to assume that character X is asexual, at all.

Vague lack of interest in sex =/= Asexuality. Always keep that in mind.

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MinusCelsius

In particular, if someone came to the Welcome Lounge and posted exactly what Emilie Autumn said about being asexual, everyone would be scratching their head in confusion and asking tons of clarifying questions.

This. I read what she said and probably lost a few brain cells trying to process. I think what she's trying to say is "I'm a little dollie, dolls have no sex, so yes, that's my image now, dumdidum". Or, how the rarely-funny Encyclopedia Dramatica puts it, she identifies as something new with every album to appeal to a new audience.

As for Nikola Tesla, who the f cares if he identified as asexual? He was a brilliant scientist, that's cool enough for me and that wouldn't change if he had a nympho harem.

Why are we, the people who usually complain that the entire world seems to be sex-crazed, so obsessed with thinking better of people due to their orientation? I prefer to see people for their qualities and talents and decide if they are "cool" or not based on that. Not on what they do or don't do in the bedroom.

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Peaceful & Happy

I watch the Big Bang Theory and Sheldon is not asexual, he thinks sex will rob him of his intellectual pursuits. He is currently dating Amy Farrah Fowler....it's Sheldon, he is ....funny. :D

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There's a list of famous asexuals and fictional asexuals on the AVENwiki.

I really don't trust these lists though. It's all hearsay, and who knows why people thought X character was asexual.

I just looked at that list and it is pretty far fetched.

2010 Inception Ellen Page plays Ariadne. Unusually for a female character, she isn't a romantic interest and she expresses no desire for other characters in the film. Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character, Arthur, tricks her into a kiss once, to which she seems unreactive. Directed by Christopher Nolan.

Really? What is that imply that asexuals don't like to kiss, and that anyone who visibly enjoys kissing must not be asexual?

Of course she doesn't seem effected at first because at the for front of her mind is to make a distraction so the mental projection people don't mob around them and kill them. So she is asexual because she is a professional, and her first priority is to do the job? How would a sexual handle that situation any differently?

This is big example of why not to make list of fictional asexual characters can't identify them without sticking to some kind of self imposed stereotypes and alienating anyone outside of the stereotype? What if someone who doesn't know that much about the orientation and looks at fictional characters we deem asexual, and looks at that explanation of Ellen Page's character and thinks, "Oh so an asexual person doesn't like to kiss, well I still enjoy kissing so I must not be asexual."

There has only been on character I have read about that clearly identified as an asexual without actually adhering to silly stereotypes. It was in Alan Moore's graphic novel, Necronomicon, where they mentioned asexuality as an orientation on a few occasion, and while there story was ripe with characters that just didn't have the opportunity to express their sexual preferences (FBI agents, police officers, SWAT, weird club people), and one character expressed that he had never been sexually attracted to anyone, simple. If he had never made that statement there was no point in speculating based on his actions, since many other people in the plot also didn't technically show an interest in sex. But I really doubt that people want to associate with the character since he brutal mutilated and murdered few people after he was sucked into this ancient Cthulhu religion, and spent most of the graphic novel in a prison cell talking in this weird language, but because none of that is part of that stereotypically asexual, I guess he doesn't count.

People say it all the time here, "behavior does not equal orientation" but when people pick out asexual characters they are clearly violating that mantra. Suddenly to be asexual they have to "act" asexual, and display all the asexual traits because all asexual act the same right?

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I knew it already, but I was watching a Janeane Garofalo standup thing on Netflix the other night and she mentioned she was an "asexual atheist" in it (because people assumed she was Jewish and a lesbian), so I sort of cheered at the television.

Nikola Tesla? (never married, wasn't interested in women who were attracted to him, a bit asocial? allegedly fell in love with a pigeon :blink: )

Ha, not sure about his asexuality, but I made a painting of him and the pigeon one time, it's godawful and scary:

tesla-150x150.jpg

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  • 2 months later...
mrscaulfield

I would also want to say Morrissey.

Here's a couple of quotes of his, regarding the matter.

"That was the problem with the 'celibate' word because they don't consider for a moment that you'd rather not be, but you just are. I was never a sexual person."

"In a way, I believe that all those things like love, sex, sharing a life with somebody, are actually quite vague. Being only with yourself can be much more intense. I personally have always felt trapped within the feeling of being constantly disappointed with people. In a way I do feel things that are conceivably better and more important than sexual situations. I mean, sex is presumably the final point one reaches, I don't know. It doesn't matter to me. All the emotions I need to express come from within me. They don't really come from other people. I seem to feel things far more intensely and precisely than people who express a rag-bag of emotions and survive, just, loads of relationships. I see all situations, even when I'm not involved and it's nothing to do with me, in a very dramatic way."

"None whatsoever. Which in itself is quite sexy." (Question was: Is there any sex in Morrissey?)

"Well, I don't have physical relationships, but to use the word celibacy, to apply it to oneself is like implying that one has made a very firm decision. And that is not the case in my life. But physical relationships I never had."

โ€œIโ€™d like to free the world of sex stereotypes. I am interested in sex and genders. I consider myself a sort of prophet of the fourth sex. The third sex has been tried out, but it failed. I want something different. Iโ€™m bored with women and men.โ€

"I can't imagine my body ever feeling sexual excitement"

So, yeah. I'm sorry if you don't like him but I still think he's relevant. He's always been a huge inspiration to me and a great source of comfort when I felt weird about the way I was. I do consider Morrissey asexual and from what he's said before, his mentions of the fourth sex, mentioning he was torn between being male and female, I'd say he's asexual with a few gender issues thrown in for good measure.

Early on in his career, he used to say he was celibate which he later gave up because, I would guess, he realized it wasn't the right word. From what I've gathered he has tried to have sexual relationships and wished to have them but was never successful. Personally, I can relate to this a lot and I don't think his wish for sexual relationships makes him a sexual person.

I don't agree with the notion that he's merely seeking attention when he talks about his asexuality. Personally, I'm thrilled that he brought up the subject in the media as frequently as he has, and as early as in 1982 when the only reaction it brought him was ridicule.

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mrscaulfield

I also read Andy Warhol was asexual. Not sure though. He did say this:

"Sex is more exciting on the screen and between the pages than between the sheets"

I agree with this very much, even if it doesn't give away much about his orientation.

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Strangelove

May I venture a tentative one in the shape of Isaac Newton? As I understand it he never married and was a lifelong virgin. That said, he was unusually absorbed in his scientific pursuits (so it may be not so much that he had no interest, its just that science interested him more). Just a possible.

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I'd disagree with Sherlock Holmes being asexual. In some of Arthur Doyle's novel, there are innuendo to a drug addiction as when once he couldn't pay the rent due to a certain love and absolutely needed some work or yet another time where I think he was playing bridge in order to wait for his 'muse'. I forgot the name of the book of those stories, but it was a collection of short stories on Sherlock Holmes. He simply had an obsession that keeps him from doing anything else other than solving crimes in order to pay for his drug addiction. Come to think of it, he probably was so obsessed that he didn't even ask himself the questions about his sexual orientation.

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Mismatched

I think that the notable asexual should be limited to real people who have said that they are asexual or that they have never felt sexual attraction to anyone. Speculating about historical people who probably never thought to write down the state of their love life or what they thought about it or of other people. As time goes by for historical figures, people tend to idealize them to the extent that they might even reinforce the ideal of them by picking and presenting certain things that "prove" that ideal. But if they ever found like a smutty old mag, they would just wave it away as not belonging that person because there is already the idea that the person would never be so perverted. Remember probably even looking at porn for someone of a high status would have been considered perverted and I don't think it would ever be unheard of that a family member of someone that died of high prominence would get rid of all the things that would "taint" their memory. Therefore making it as if that part of them ever existed.

Just because Newton never married or was a virgin, isn't the red flag of asexuality, many religious people never married or had sex and many asexual have married and had sex, by choice or not. Also back then they had weird ideas of sexuality. Some people believed that simply to ejaculate it reduced a man's life, passion, or even intelligence. So Newton could have possibly had sexual urges, but just had the idea that expressing it would interfere with his work.

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Emilie Autumn a rather cool and supremely talented musician identifies as Asexy.

And who can forget Dexter Morgan,everyones favourite fictional serial killer and allround stand up Ace.Well at least he was until Rita got her bloody claws into him *Grrrrrrrrrrr*

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silvernlilac

Im sure cliff richard is probably asexual. I was just thinking today actually about what it would be like if a really famous celebrity came out as asexual what a lot of good publicity that would generate

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Im sure cliff richard is probably asexual. I was just thinking today actually about what it would be like if a really famous celebrity came out as asexual what a lot of good publicity that would generate

Define really famous, like Lady Gaga famous? or someone that everyone just knows?

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