Social Anxiety Romantic/Sexual

[significantlysilent]

Don't know if it's been done before or not, but a recent post by another member got me thinking about if social anxiety has an effect on whether or not someone is asexual or not and romantic or not. So, I made a poll to see if there are any results on this. I have severe social anxiety, and I'm not posstively sure if it played into the fact that I am asexual or not, but am leaning more towards "no" because there are others who have social anxiety and are still sexual. So, write below if you would like to define your poll responses more.

[Kitty Spoon Train]

I don't really have Social Anxiety per se, but I'm extremely introverted and fairly aloof in mass social situations - once they get past a certain saturation point anyway. Which is anything bigger than a small get-together of close friends really.

At any rate, I don't think any of this is related to my being demisexual at all.

[5_♦♣]

^This. (Except substitute demisexual with Asexual).

[Glitter Spock]

I have had social anxiety since roughly age 12 (I'm 23 now). I'm aro & asexual, but experienced social anxiety before coming to an aromantic identity as well. During high school I identified as a romantic asexual. My social anxiety is the result of bullying from age 11 to the end of high school. Autistic people also tend to experience social anxiety because of the ways in which we communicate with others, so I see my social anxiety is a side effect of being an autistic person in a world that is not-at-all friendly to autistics (and as a side effect of being trans in a super cissexist world!). I have significantly recovered from most of my social anxiety due to developing a bigger social support network over the past two years, and it was in the past two years that I began to identify as aromantic, so.

[Llillia]

I believe that my social anxiety is related to my Asperger's. My sexuality may also be related to my Asperger's, but I don't think they are related to each other.

[TheSadOne]

Am I that member?

[Mitebsyco]

I think it's the other way around. Anxiety due to not fitting in quite like most everyone else. Or at least partially so.

[significantlysilent]

Am I that member?

lol yup :) i actually wondered if you would comment on/see this at some point. but yes, your post got me thinking about this topic. haha :P

[TheSadOne]

Am I that member?

lol yup :) i actually wondered if you would comment on/see this at some point. but yes, your post got me thinking about this topic. haha :P

:lol: Now I wonder if my social anxiety is related to my sexual identity.But...I don't think it is

[MadRat]

I think it's the other way around. Anxiety due to not fitting in quite like most everyone else. Or at least partially so.

This.

I´m over it now but I had social anxiety when I was a teenager and it was mainly because I was too different from majority of kids and they bullied me.

[Star Burton]

I have social anxiety when it's a room full of people I don't know (such as new classes), to the point that I don't talk and simply observe for the first few days. I then take part in intelligent conversation, or correct stupid/ignorant conversation, often coming off as smart, stiff, and maybe haughty. Until I become more comfortable and start cracking fake come-backs, disses, and not socially acceptable jokes.

I accredit this to my youth. I didn't have friends til 3rd grade, but I was a little too weird to be seen with them in school. So, I floated around, friendless, until 5th grade, where I made some CRAZY friends. We were separated in 6th grade, which was my "hell year," due to madness with DID and depression. Life was kinda normal, but still happy, until 8th grade, when my closest friend left me for reasons I still don't know. Now, I react the way I do to a room full of strangers.

I've always been demisexual, I just didn't have a word for it til recently.

[Nekomata]

I don't really know if social anxiety is related to my sexual identity or not... I do think I have social anxiety though, and I'm pretty much demisexual/demi-romantic, although I still don't know what I sexually identify myself as, it's still a mystery to me, but I guess it doesn't matter all that much, at least for now xD

[Mrs Sherlock Holmes]

I've always been a quiet and shy person and started experiencing severe anxiety in my teens. It's something I've lived with for a very long time and I always assumed that was the reason why I felt unable to have a relationship. I realised that I had SA almost ten years ago now and only got the problem more under control a few years ago when I started on medication. I was surprised that in the abscence of crippling shyness and anxiety that I still felt the same regarding relationships with men. I realised that I was not a sexual person and had no desire to be but hadn't heard of asexuality, so I thought there was still something very wrong with me which I have found to be both distressing and isolating. Discovering that I am asexual and realising there are others out there like me has given me a huge boost. I don't want to spend the rest of my life on my own and now feel ever so slightly more optimistic that there may be someone out there for me. So, yeah I now believe my social anxiety and asexuality to be entirely seperate.

[Struggling Bee]

I don't have social anxiety, but as far as I know I'm asexual, and something like wtfromantic. I checked grey-romantic for lack of a better option, seemed like the closest.

[test account]

Old post.

[enjolras]

I don't really have Social Anxiety per se, but I'm extremely introverted and fairly aloof in mass social situations - once they get past a certain saturation point anyway. Which is anything bigger than a small get-together of close friends really.

At any rate, I don't think any of this is related to my being demisexual at all.

Same, and agreed. Awkwardness, yes. But I don't know if I could call it "social anxiety" without demeaning the issues of those who actually have it.

[Grumpy Alien]

I answered that I have social anxiety, but really, I have general anxiety. People make me anxious because pretty much anything can make me anxious if I'm not on medication.

[divided_sky]

I don't think my anxiety is related to my sexuality. I'd say it impacts my ability to have sex, in that I feel as if I'd never feel comfortable or confident enough to do it, if I were to meet a girl that I loved. So basically, while I'm asexual regardless of anxiety, my anxiety will likely prevent me from ever attempting to compromise and try for someone that I love. Which is frustrating, to some degree.

[sanremi52890]

I answered that I have social anxiety, but I'm not really sure what you meant by the term... Did you mean just general shyness, or a more serious condition? I'm introverted and I definitely have some degree of shyness, but it's not anything out of the ordinary or problematic.

I'm interested in why anyone would think their sexuality had to do with a personality factor. Do we have any evidence that your sexual orientation has to do with personality? I haven't seen any, personally. If more people here report being shy or introverted, I'm sure that has more to do with it being an internet forum than with it being for asexuals. The few asexuals that I know in real life, who are not (to my knowledge) active in Internet forums, are quite extraverted (not that that proves anything, it's just an observation).

[significantlysilent]

I answered that I have social anxiety, but I'm not really sure what you meant by the term... Did you mean just general shyness, or a more serious condition? I'm introverted and I definitely have some degree of shyness, but it's not anything out of the ordinary or problematic.

I'm interested in why anyone would think their sexuality had to do with a personality factor. Do we have any evidence that your sexual orientation has to do with personality? I haven't seen any, personally. If more people here report being shy or introverted, I'm sure that has more to do with it being an internet forum than with it being for asexuals. The few asexuals that I know in real life, who are not (to my knowledge) active in Internet forums, are quite extraverted (not that that proves anything, it's just an observation).

To answer your question, I meant the actual disorder (like where it interferes with your daily life) from my original post, but it's fine that you answered anyways. I think I'm going to add an option for shyness as that sems to be kind of a common question from the above posts.

Personally, I do not think that my anxiety is related to my sexuality (similar to divided_sky) but definitely will interfere with whether or not I progress with or in any relationship. I don't think there is any evidence to people's sexual orientation having to do with people's personality, but it's a thought all in itself. Like if different traits can have a higher tendency to lead to one's gener or sexuality, or if there is no common ground. I don't think there is, but it would be interesting to see if not already observed upon.

I'm glad you brought up the internet forum thing, as I do agree that this poll will have skewed results because of that fact. I'm kind of curious now if more people with social anxiety tend to be introverted and on internet forums, but another idea for another day. Feel free to observe all you desire, observations are quite useful. :)

[SquirrelCat]

I think my social anxity is related to my Aspergers. It's not really everyday people I have a problem with, it's new people and the public.

As for my Aromantic attraction and Asexuality... I tend to view romantics and sexuality in a very clinical manner therefore it's possbile that they are related to the ASD as well, but I doubt it. I can't really put into words Why I doubt it, it's just do.... Maybe it is that I try to rationalize my feelings about romance and sex to the point where it becomes clinical... I'm all stats and science about it.

[meanreds92]

I'm 21, I've had social anxiety since I was 9 when I switched schools. Suddenly I wasn't supposed to do things "because you're a girl" and "girls have to do x, y, z" and I was bullied because I like what I like and what's popular doesn't really matter to me. I was later part of an unhealthy relationship and several unhealthy friendships, so I think that my social anxiety is a direct result of my social experiences between the ages of 9 and 13.

[Lady Girl]

This poll is being locked and moved to the read only Census archive for it's respective year. As part of ongoing Census organization, and in an attempt to keep the demographics of the polls current with the active user base at the time, the polls will last for one year from now on. However, members are allowed and even encouraged to re-start new polls similar to the archived ones if they like them.

Lady Girl, Moderator