It may be Bisexual Awareness Week, but Asexuals the world over say they want to be noticed as well. They are demanding greater visibility, saying they want asexuality to be recognized as an official sexual orientation by the government, the National Post reports.
In a new review published by the University of British Columbia, Canadian sex academics are insisting that asexuality isn’t some bizarre form of “psychopathology” or the result an extremely low libido as famously diagnosed by zoologist and sex researcher Alfred Kinsey in the 1940s. Instead, they say, “we surmise that the available evidence points to asexuality being best conceptualized as a unique sexual orientation.”
In other words: Having no sexual orientation is itself a sexual orientation. Just like being gay, straight, bisexual, etc. So start treating it as such!
Related: Ten Sexual Orientations Besides Gay, Straight Or Bi To Round Out Your Sexicon
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
But the movement isn’t just happening in Canada. In the U.K., asexual activists are seeking to have “asexual” added the list of options around sexual identity in the upcoming 2021 census questionnaire, arguing that “around one per cent of the population is asexual” and should therefore be counted.
“It is most likely that the best part of a million British residents are asexual,” the sex academics write, “yet we have almost no data that sheds light on the causes of asexuality, its correlates or the implications of identifying as asexual.”
Activists and researchers alike argue that making “asexual” an official sexual orientation on government census forms “would challenge much of the stigma and myths that suggest asexual individuals are just celibate, or that this is some kind of manifestation of psychopathology or trauma.”
Indeed, a study published by Yale University back in April documented the “coming out” experiences of over 150 asexuals. Many reported being met with disbelief and dismissiveness. One woman reported being called “ridiculous” by a friend. Another said the person she told responded by saying, “You’re not a tree.” Similarly, a 2012 study found asexuals were met with significant bias and negative attitudes, particularly be heterosexuals.
Related: What It’s Like To Be Gay And Asexual In A Sex-Crazed World?
h/t: National Post
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
Identifarians gonna identificate
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
So many arguments amongst these people as to what constitutes “real” a sexuality, and the resulting unending plethora of qualifications…
Get your story straight first before demanding the public respect your important identity
Tobi
OK, but I thought they were already in? LGBTQQIP2SAAEF+ or is that the wrong kind of A? I guess if necessary we can add a U for Ugly too.
Tobi
( I don’t suppose there’s any chance we can go back to our roots and the C ampaign for H omosexual E quality? )
jdboston617
“Having no sexual orientation is itself a sexual orientation. Just like being gay, straight, bisexual, etc. So start treating it as such!”
Sorry, this is simply not true. While I have nothing but respect for an asexual person, this is bologne. A lack of sexuality does not affect the status of a citizen in relationship to their partner and or their individual rights, which is the LGBT’s movement. Additionally, most asexual persons go through periods of interest in intimate relationships, or return to sexual interest permanently, so in affect their asexuality is a “temporary” situation. Not for all of course, but many. This is not true for gay/straight/bi person, whether a person experiments on the desire or not, there sexuality is still there and part of their “identity” or make up.
Just because you’re on the frig, doesn’t mean you belong the LGBT community. Sorry. No offense. I’m sure this will upset people. If I have, I am sorry. But give me a break already.
Heywood Jablowme
Maybe they just don’t think anybody is hot.
Tobi
@Heywood Jablowme: Maybe nobody thinks they’re hot.
ErikO
I have read rants from asexual people who want to now invade and be a part of the whole LGBTQXXY community.
Captain Obvious
I don’t know her.
CarrieV
What a shame this article neglected to mention that asexuals are further split into “romantic” and a-romantic” groups.
“Romantic asexuals” seek out loving, healthy relationships just as many others do; they just have no sexual desires nor sexual impulses. Many romantic asexuals enter into relationships out of love or an affinity for a partner, but they have to put up with sex that they don’t want. (When the above poster said many asexuals go in and out of the phases, well, this is not true. They remain asexual-minded and just have the sex that their partner will certainly expect.)
The other asexual identity is “a-romantic asexuals”, who in addition to not seeking sex also do not seek out or even want partner-like relationships. This means they are quite different from the romantic asexuals.
Many yopung, kinda great-looking people self-classify as asexual. Back in my day we called it celibate, but CELIBACY is what one can enter and leave intermittently through life, NOT asexuality. You can no sooner alter your identity of asexual as you could your identity of gay or straight. Many gays and lesbians have had sex with the opposite sex (for societal or familial reasons), and it didn’t mean they were straight after all. Your identity is your identity, despite what ignorant people who’ve never heard of asexual before believe.
dwes09
@CarrieV: Regardless of how one defines the various asexual identities, they are no denied jobs, lodging, legal protections, access to restrooms, service in businesses and so on. They are not verbally or physically assaulted (or killed) for displaying a lack of interest in sexual contact in public, they do not commit suicide in youth as a result of bullying or abuse from parents.
Consequently the idea that somehow we share their “struggle” is ludicrous. Perhaps if they are gay or lesbian or transgender asexuals they might, if they form pair bonds. Otherwise they are simply people who lack sexual desire for what is likely a range of physical and psychological causes.
dwes09
@CarrieV: Perhaps they need support groups and meeting places, but there is no intrinsic need for legal protection in all they ways LGBT people need it. Their struggle is neither political nor particularly social. It is individual and among themselves. I have asexual friends, they simply go through life unencumbered with the emotional, sexual intrigue others share, have only platonic relationships and seem untroubled by it. They support LGBT causes in the same way straight allies do. They seem no more saddled by neuroses than the rest of us.
notcisjustmale
All these precious little snowflakes. The should retreat back to their safe space and trigger warn each other into ecstatic bliss. Leave the adults alone.
dwes09
@notcisjustmale: “All these precious little snowflakes.”
Although I do not feel that asexuals need a political movement, nor are they subjected to the same kinds of pressures that gay folks are, your right wing condescension is out of place. In the eyes of the right YOU are just as precious a snowflake, just as contemptuous (if in fact you are homosexual) if you don’t toe the line and suck up your ultimately god-ordained role as a pariah.
One can argue the merits of their claims or the reality of their presumed discrimination, but their humanity is equal to (or quite possibly greater than) yours. Your regard of them as childish and you as “adult” shows a certain peevishness common to the right (and kind of childish). Adults don’t sneer as easily as the immature.
I suppose it does not matter to you that nowhere were trigger warnings mentioned. You probably simply pulled a slur from the regressive playbook without any thought to those you were addressing. It is so much easier to make light of regressives like you than these folks discussed in this article. They don’t feel either entitled nor are they full of the easy contempt you show.
ShowMeGuy
You are special and unique……just like everyone else.