Asexual

Asexual, or "ace", refers to people who do not experience sexual attraction toward others. They may experience other forms of attraction, such as romantic, sensual, or aesthetic attraction. Asexuality is a sexual orientation, not a gender identity, behavior, or medical condition. Some asexual people choose to engage in sexual activities for various reasons despite not experiencing sexual feelings and desire toward any particular person. Asexuality is part of the asexual spectrum (abbreviated "ace-spec"), an umbrella term and a broad community of identities that are closely related to asexuality when placed on a spectrum ranging from asexual to sexual.

Etymology
The term 'asexual' comes from the negation prefix a-, meaning 'not' or 'without', with the word 'sexual'. It was initially used to describe biological organisms that had no sex organs. Its use as a label was popularized by Alfred Kinsey in his Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scale (the Kinsey scale), with X being used to denote people who did not engage in sexual behaviors.

Community
The asexual community is a small but growing one. Asexuality is part of the asexual spectrum and has been broadly categorized, along with aromanticism, as part of the a-spec(trum). The asexual community has close ties to the aromantic community due to their commonalities. The community of people who are both asexual and aromantic is known as the aroace community.

Members of the asexual community have noted that "asexual identities make explicit a romantic dimension of sexuality as distinct from a sexual identity based on lack of sexual attraction" as compared with non-asexual identities. In researched cases, this resulted in greater emphasis being put on an individuals' sexual and romantic orientation as contrasted with non-asexual peers.

Asexuals challenge the idea that sex is the best, easiest, or only route to achieving intimacy or connections with others. The experiences of asexuals call into question normative assumptions about the relationships between sex, physical closeness, romantic experience, and interpersonal intimacy, demonstrating there are a variety of ways to create meaningful intimate bonds with others that do not focus on sex or even necessarily on romantic connections.

Ace Week
Ace Week, formerly known as Asexual Awareness Week was founded by Sara Beth Brooks in 2010 with the help of AVEN founder David Jay. It takes place annually the final week of October, and its purpose is to spread educational materials, organize community events, and discuss asexual experiences.

The very first Ace Week was mostly conducted online through blogging and social media activity. As part of the campaign to increase asexual awareness within the LGBTQ+ community, members of the asexual community created one minute "Dear LGBT Community" video letters to share on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Asexuals were also encouraged to share information and experiences on social media, change their profile pictures, and start conversations about being asexual both online and off.

Ace Week took a huge leap forward in 2011. Sara Beth formed a 20-person committee that planned and collaborated on the project over the course of 6 months. In addition to focusing on the LGBTQ+ community, the second Ace Week targeted mass media, educational organizations, medical professionals, and sex-positive communities.

Many traditions have developed in celebration of Ace Week, including the Fandom Challenge, which first took place in 2014. On each day of Ace Week, the Fandom Challenge sets out a prompt designed to initiate discussions on social media about canon and headcanon asexual characters.

Asexual traits and identifiers
There are many key signs that someone might be asexual; however, asexuality is a spectrum, and not all of these will apply to all asexual people.
 * No interest in sex or intimacy
 * No arousal during intimacy
 * Finding others attractive, but not being attracted to them
 * Feeling alienated when others talk about their desire for sex or feelings of sexual attraction
 * Enjoying hugging/kissing, but not wanting to take things further
 * Finding sex scenes boring

Early 20th Century
Because modern asexual organizing has largely happened on the internet, some commentators have defined asexuality as the first "internet orientation." However, explicit references to the asexual identity can be traced back to the early 20th century. One of the first modern gay activists in the U.S., Carl Schlegel, issued pleas for queer equality that specifically invoked asexuality in a speech composed in 1907. The famous sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld also used the term in “The Role of Homosexual Men and Women in Society” in 1920.

1950s-1970s
Fast-forward half a century, and the emerging literature on queer identity made frequent references to asexuality. In 1952, the magazine Transvestia used the term "asexual", and in 1965 published a short description of what it termed the “A-sexual Range”, perhaps an early prototype of the asexual spectrum. Many feminist conferences in the 1970s let people choose a label for their sexual identity, and asexual was one of the options.

Illinois State University professor Ela Przybylo, in her book Asexual Erotics, highlighted a feminist effort in the 1960s and 1970s to swear off sex. The rise of these sexual critiques inspired one feminist, Lisa Orlando, to publish “The Asexual Manifesto” in 1972. Although Orlando’s interpretation of asexuality is largely framed as a political reaction to the patriarchy, she does mention avoiding sex and feeling her need for sex to diminish, as well as seeing sex as a way of avoiding closeness rather than achieving it. “The Asexual Manifesto" struck a chord with people who more closely matched today’s understanding of asexuality, and even prompted the gay liberationist Greg Turner to cite it in a 1976 essay outlining his search for an identity label.

In 1971, the Village Voice published what it intended to be a parody article titled “Asexuals Have Problems Too!,” but the article prompted a flurry of letters to the newspaper and suggested a widespread curiosity about asexual identity. Soon after, queer zines began making occasional references to asexual identity. In the ’80s and ’90s, punk zines that surveyed their readers accounted for the asexual demographic. Also in the ’90s, asexual people began exploring their identities themselves in riot grrrl zines. There are likely more than 100 zines either wholly focused on or containing discussion of the ace umbrella, and these zines paved the way for the recognition of asexuality as a distinct sexual identity.

1990s to Present
Most asexual people credit writer Zoe O’Reilly’s 1997 essay, “My life as an amoeba,” with creating the first contemporary asexual community. Before O’Reilly’s piece was published on the now-defunct website StarNet Dispatches, the word “asexuality” predominantly referred to a type of reproduction in single-celled organisms.

Four years later, in October 2000, a Yahoo! Group “Haven for the Human Amoeba” was established as place where asexual people could find each other online. However, the biggest breakthrough for the community came in March 2001, when a freshman at Wesleyan University named David Jay launched what is today called the Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN), a website, wiki, and forum that has connected thousands of asexual people across the world. The following year, New York passed the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act, which was the first, and currently only, piece of legislation to mention asexuality.

Flag
The asexual pride flag was voted on by the Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN) in 2010. It is composed of four horizontal stripes from top to bottom in the colors black, grey, white, and purple. The colors have the following meanings:
 * Black: Asexuals
 * Grey: Demisexuals and grayasexuals
 * White: Sexuals, as in non-asexual partners and allies
 * Purple: The community

Aromantic
Aromantic (or "aro") people do not experience romantic attraction toward others. Some aromantic people experience sexual attraction, while others are both aromantic and asexual.

Celibacy and abstinence
Asexuality is not the same as celibacy or abstinence, which are choices to not engage in sexual behavior based on reasons that are not related to sexual attraction. People who abstain from sex may experience attractions and choose not to act upon them, and they may change their minds and stop being abstinent or celibate. Asexuality is not a personal choice that can be changed. Someone who does choose to practice celibacy, whether for personal or religious beliefs, is not necessarily asexual.

Demisexual
Although demisexuality is on the asexual spectrum, it is different from asexuality itself. Asexual people do not experience sexual attraction, regardless of how close they are with someone, whereas demisexual people can and do experience sexual attraction, but only after a close bond is formed with another person.

Nonlibidoist
Many people interpret asexual to mean "nonlibidoist", which means the person never experiences sexual urges or desires, and in particular, does not masturbate. However, some asexual people do experience sexual arousal and the urge to do things typically labelled as ‘sexual’. The average frequency of sexual arousal experienced by asexual people is typically within the standard range for allosexual people, although on average tends to be slightly lower. Essentially, the ‘equipment’ works just fine in many asexual people, but without being accompanied by sexual attraction, there is usually little desire to have partnered sex.

The feeling of sexual arousal in asexual people is sometimes described as ‘a drive directed nowhere in particular’ or ‘a physical tension that needs releasing’. Some asexual people who experience sexual arousal just ignore this feeling. Others choose masturbation as a response to this feeling, and some even seek out partnered sex for the physical sensation it provides. These people can still identify as asexual, because asexuality is defined by a lack of sexual attraction, not a lack of sexual arousal.

A loss of sexual interest due to hormone imbalance is often a sudden change, while asexuality is typically a permanent or long-term thing, rather than the result of something being ‘lost’. One’s sexual and romantic orientations are not governed by one’s libido, nor one’s hormone levels.

Dehumanization
According to research, asexual people are the target of more prejudice, avoidance, and discrimination than cisgender and heterosexual people, and even more than cisgender lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. Of all the sexual minorities studied, asexual people were attributed with significantly fewer human nature traits and were perceived to experience fewer human emotions. Asexual people are dehumanized by being characterized as both “machine-like” and “animal-like.”.

Additionally, society at large perpetuates a constant message that sex and relationships are what make us human: desiring and partaking in sex is normal, healthy, and what one should aspire to attain. This is known as ‘compulsory sexuality’, and can make asexual people feel like they are broken.

Exclusion
Asexual people can face prejudice from within the LGBT+ community, such as being refused entry to LGBT+ spaces or inappropriate treatment by LGBT+ services. Some LGBT+ people argue that asexuality shouldn’t be included under the LGBT+ umbrella. Many feel that the inclusion of asexuals and aromantics in the community will cause others to lose access to needed resources. There are some people who think asexuals aren't oppressed at all. There are also people who think asexuality isn't an orientation and that the "A" in LGBTQIA stands for ally. In the 2011 documentary (A)sexual, queer activist Dan Savage dismissed asexuals in Pride parades based on false notion that asexuality is a choice.

Myths
There are a lot of misunderstandings when it comes to asexuality. One of the most common myths is that asexuals are simply choosing to abstain from sex, which is not true. Some asexuals may abstain, while others do have sex, whether it may be to please their partner or to have children. Asexuals simply do not feel sexual attraction. That does not necessarily mean they have an aversion to sex, although some asexuals do.

Another common myth is that people "become" asexual after either being sexually rejected or sexually abused. However, asexuality is a perfectly natural orientation and, generally, will be unrelated to traumatic experiences a person may have suffered. Although some asexual and aromantic people may experience changes in their desire or attraction due to trauma, trauma and mental health are not exclusive and decisive ‘causes’ of asexuality or aromanticism, and these factors, for the vast majority, play little to no role in determining someone’s orientation. Some asexuals may know their orientation from an early age, while others may not discover they are asexual until after one or more sexual experiences.

A third myth is that asexuality is caused by a hormone deficiency. However, there is no scientific evidence to suggest that asexuality is caused by a hormone imbalance or a deficient sex drive. In fact, those who have had their hormone levels tested have generally been found to have levels within the normal range. Some asexuals also have undergone hormone therapy for reasons distinct from their sexuality and reported no changes in their sexual orientation.

Sexual Assault
Many asexual individualss report experiencing sexual harassment and violence, including corrective rape, designed to eradicate their asexuality. In the 2015 asexual community census, a volunteer-run project, 43.5% of nearly 8,000 asexuals surveyed reported having experienced some form of sexual violence. These crimes occur because people see asexuality as a "challenge", and they believe they can "change the person's mind" or "fix their orientation".

Verbal Abuse
Asexuals frequently experience verbal abuse and violence from neighbors or strangers, in person or online. This can include:
 * Saying there is something “wrong” with the victim or that the victim is “broken” because they are asexual
 * Telling the victim that something is “wrong” with their body, and that is why they are asexual
 * Mocking the victim’s body or making the victim feel bad about their body responding or not responding to sexual acts
 * Telling the victim that they are asexual or are confused about being asexual because no one wants to have a relationship or sex with them
 * Threatening to tell the victim’s friends, family, or coworkers about their asexuality without their permission
 * Stopping or forbidding the victim from speaking to other asexual people, talking about asexuality, or attending in-person or online support groups for asexual people

Many asexual people are wary of coming out because they fear they may face interrogation from people who don’t believe them.

Media
Asexuality has been under-represented in the media compared to other sexual minorities. Recently, it has gained some prominence through its inclusion in contemporary television.

Literature
Kerewin, from Keri Hulme's 1986 The Bone People, is asexual, and uses the word to refer to herself.

Television

 * Drea from Everything's Gonna Be Okay.
 * Florence from Sex Education.
 * Greta Moreno from Genera+ion.
 * Liv Flaherty from Emmerdale.
 * Raphael Santiago from Shadowhunters. He may also be aromantic.
 * Todd Chavez from Bojack Horseman.
 * Valentina "Voodoo" Dunacci from Sirens.

Comic books

 * Jughead Jones from the Archie Comics.

Other people

 * Yasmin Benoit, an aromantic and asexual model and activist who co-founded International Asexuality Day.
 * Cavetown is an aromantic asexual musician.
 * Mars Murdock is an aromantic aceflux director and actress.
 * Alice Oseman is an aromantic and asexual author.

Resources

 * Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN)