Asexuality

Asexuality is a general term or self-designation for people who do not exhibit sexual attraction, or who otherwise find sexual behavior unappealing. There is debate as to whether this is a sexual dysfunction or a sexual orientation. Furthermore, there is disagreement over the exact definition of the word. The term is sometimes used as a gender identity by those who believe their lack of sexual attraction places them outside the traditional definitions of gender. There has been little research done on asexuality, but those studies that have been conducted suggest that, if it is a sexual orientation, it is among the least common. A commonly used description is that they feel one can get more pleasure from eating a bar of chocolate than having sexual contact of any kind with another human being or an animal.

Debate

There is continuing disagreement over whether asexuality is a legitimate sexual orientation. Some argue that it falls under the heading of hypoactive sexual disorder or sexual aversion disorder. Among those who do not believe it to be an orientation, other suggested causes include past sexual abuse,^[1] sexual repression (of homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality), hormonal problems, delayed development, sublimation of sexuality for personal, religious or cultural reasons, or simply not having met the right person. Some asexuals, however, argue that they do not believe in the "right person myth", because they could not get into romantic/sexual affection with anybody for long years back and do not create any image of an ideal lover for themselves.

Many self-identified asexuals, however, do not believe that such diagnoses apply to them. Others assert that because their asexuality does not cause them distress, it should not be viewed as a disorder. Those who believe that asexuality is not pathological sometimes point to the fact that similar things have been said about homosexuality and bisexuality, which are now viewed by most as legitimate orientations. Alongside this is the debate as to whether the term 'asexual' is an accurate term. In biology, the term is used to describe a species that reproduces from a single member, whereas in this context it pertains to an organism not reproducing at all, and that 'anti-sexual' (in the clinical, rather than polemical sense) may be a more accurate description of the behavior (for the ideological outlook, see antisexualism).

Because of this lack of research on the subject, there is little documented evidence in favor of either side of the debate.

Research

A study done on rams found that about 2% to 3% of the animals being studied had no apparent interest in mating with either sex. Another study was done on rats and gerbils, in which up to 12% of the males showed no interest in females. Their interactions with other males were not measured, however, so the study is of limited use when it comes to asexuality.^[2]

A UK survey of sexuality included a question on sexual attraction, and 1% of respondents replied that they had "never felt sexually attracted to anyone at all."^[3] The Kinsey Institute conducted a small survey on the topic, which concluded that "asexuals appear to be better characterized by low sexual desire and sexual excitation than by low levels of sexual behavior or high sexual inhibition".^[4] That study also mentions a conflict regarding the definition of "asexual": the researchers found four different definitions in the literature, and stated that it was unclear whether those identifying as asexual were referring to an orientation.

Variations

There are differences among people who identify as asexual, chiefly among them the presence or absence of a sex drive or romantic attraction. Some experience only one of these, while others experience both, and still others neither. There is disagreement as to which of these configurations can genuinely be described as asexual. While a number of people believe all four variations qualify, many others believe that to be asexual, one must lack both a sex drive and romantic attraction.

The sex drive of those asexuals who have one is usually not directed at anything, and is only an urge for sexual stimulation or release; one exception is those asexuals who are also fetishists, whose sex drive is focused on the fetish object rather than a person (though many fetishists do not identify themselves as asexual). In either case, the level of sex drive can range from weak to strong, and from rare to frequent. As mentioned above, some identify as asexual yet feel sexual attraction, though some would argue that they are not asexual. Some asexuals may experience sexual feelings, but have an aversion to sex or no desire to act on them, while others seek sexual release through sexual contact.

For those asexuals who experience feelings of romantic attraction, it can be directed towards any sex or sexes. These asexuals generally desire romantic relationships (ranging from casual liaisons to marriage) but often do not want these relationships to include sexual activity. Because of their romantic orientation, some asexuals describe themselves as gay, bi, or straight asexuals; this is related to the concept of affectional orientation.

Those asexuals who do want romantic relationships are in a difficult position, as the majority of people are not asexual. Asexuals able to tolerate sex can pair up with non-asexuals, but even then their lack of attraction or desire can be psychologically distressing to their partner, making a long-term romance difficult. Asexuals who cannot tolerate sex must either compromise with their partners and have a certain amount anyway, give their partners permission to seek sex elsewhere, have sexless relationships with those few who are willing, date only other asexuals, or stay single.

Aromantic is another term for asexuals who don't experience romantic attraction or "typical romantic attraction". While some do find a relationship with another asexual, they may not include things such as kissing or touching. Aromantic asexuals who are in relationships often are unsure of themselves, even if their partner is aromantic as well, because of the mass media showing "normal" relationships. They may feel they don't measure up to their partner's standards, usually due to a past failed relationship or lack of experience. This feeling usually goes away over time. Aromantic asexual couples often look like best friends to most people due to the nature of their relationships, even though something deeper is there. It's the same deep love romantics have, but it's shown in a different way from the norm.

Some asexuals use a classification system developed (and then retired) by the founder, David Jay, of the Asexual Visibility and Education Network [1], one of the major online asexual communities (abbreviated as AVEN). In this system, asexuals are divided into types A through D: a Type A asexual has a sex drive but no romantic attraction, a Type B has romantic attraction but no sex drive, a Type C has both, but does not connect the two, and a Type D has neither. The categories are not meant to be entirely discrete or set in stone; one's type can change, or one can be on the border between two types. Note that AVEN itself no longer uses this system, on the basis that it is too exclusive, but a number of asexuals still feel it is a useful tool for explaining their orientation.^[5]

Note that asexuality is not the same as celibacy, which is the deliberate abstention from sexual activity; many asexuals do have sex, and most celibates are not asexual.

Asexuality in fiction

In his science fiction novel Distress (1995), Greg Egan imagines a 22nd century world where "asex" is one out of seven acknowledged gender settings. To quote from Distress:

"Asex was really nothing but an umbrella term for a broad group of philosophies, styles of dress, cosmetic-surgical changes, and deep-biological alterations. The only thing that one asex person necessarily had in common with another was the view that vis gender parameters (neural, endocrine, chromosomal and genital) were the business of no one but verself, usually (but not always) vis lovers, probably vis doctor, and sometimes a few close friends. What a person actually did in response to that attitude could range from as little as ticking the 'A' box on census forms, to choosing an asex name, to breast or body-hair reduction, voice timbre adjustment, facial resculpting, empouchment (surgery to render the male genitals retractable), all the way to full physical and/or neural asexuality, hermaphroditism, or exoticism." (Distress, paperback ed., p. 45)

Aghora, one of Alejandro Jodorowsky's Metabarons, was an asexual transman.

Samuel R. Delany's 1969 short story "Aye, and Gomorrah..." depicts a society where astronauts (or "Spacers") are rendered sexless because cosmic radiation would otherwise damage their reproductive organs. Delaney's Spacers seek out "frelks", or individuals with a fetish for the asexual Spacers, and exploit them for money and amusement -- or possibly out of loneliness.

In the original Doctor Who television series (1963–1989), the Doctor was almost always depicted as asexual despite his regular stream of attractive young female companions. Since the First Doctor's initial companion, Susan Foreman, was introduced as his granddaughter, it is often assumed, but never confirmed, that the Doctor had had at one time in his early life a partner of the opposite sex with whom he had at least one child. The 1996 ''Doctor Who'' television movie caused some controversy among Doctor Who fans by having the Eighth Doctor passionately kiss, more than once, his companion Grace. In the new series (2005–), the Doctor is occasionally flirtatious, and has a romantically tinged relationship with his companion Rose Tyler. Actor David Tennant who currently plays the Tenth Doctor, has assured fans that the relationship is still celibate or "a love story without the shagging." as he puts it. See also The Doctor and romance.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes is often regarded as another quintessentially asexual character. While his friend Doctor Watson is portrayed as charming and very much attracted to and, in the manner of a stereotypical Victorian gentleman, gallant towards various female characters, and indeed marries at least once, the detective dismisses dealings with women outside of his specific business as 'Your department, Watson' and even once sneeringly tells the doctor that 'the most winning woman' he ever knew committed infanticide for the insurance money. The story A Scandal in Bohemia (first published in the Strand Magazine in July 1891), however, introduces a female character whom Holmes admires excessively (she outwits him), and it opens with a frank explanation of the character's asexuality as it is seen by the narrator – as (almost) always, Doctor John Watson:

"To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They were admirable things for the observer – excellent for drawing the veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a nature such as his."

In the long-running Granada television series starring Jeremy Brett as Holmes, one feature-length episode, The Master Blackmailer (1992) – expanded from Conan Doyle's short story The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton – had the detective seemingly developing feelings for a woman for once, but only while in character: disguised as a working man in order to infiltrate the household of the blackmailer, Milverton. Embarrassed and uncomfortable, he is nevertheless prepared to go as far as engagement in pursuit of the villain. Once out of the disguise, though, he reverts to normal and is dismissive of the poor girl.

In the K. Sandra Fuhr's online strips Boy Meets Boy and Friendly Hostility, the cynical Collin Sri'Vastra claims to be asexual. He later forms a relationship with his best friend Kailen "Fox" Maharassa, but his romantic/affectionate levels appear to be rather low, at least at the beginning.

One of the central characters of Isabel Allende's The House of Spirits, Clara, could be construed as asexual. In her later years, she expresses a lack of interest in coitus, commenting that it only makes her bones ache.

The eponymous central character in Kurt Vonnegut's Deadeye Dick is asexual due to childhood trauma.

Many fans of Neon Genesis Evangelion believe that Rei Ayanami is asexual, since she never shows any signs of having a sex drive, the closest thing she comes to doing so is her platonic love for Shinji Ikari. Another character, Shigeru Aoba, is strongly implied to be asexual in The End of Evangelion.

Nny from the comic Johnny the Homicidal Maniac is largely viewed as asexual, as he shows no sexual drive and, in several instances, shows disgust at the mere thought of sexual activity. He is quoted: "I spend enough time trying not to touch or be touched", he views sexual behavior as "submission to physical longing, all seek to enslave you". He aims to go one step further with this belief towards the end of the comic when he leaves to achieve total desensitization to his emotions which he believed would free him.

Haruhi Fujioka in the series Ouran High School Host Club does not show interest in either sex. Throughout it, many members of both sexes are attracted to her (she is androgynous in appearance and often mistaken for a boy) but she does not appear to show any interest in return, and nor is it entirely clear if she realises that other people are attracted to her.

Jughead Jones was, for several decades, perhaps the only character of the Archie gang who is not romantically interested in the opposite sex.

In Ian Fleming's From Russia with Love, Red Grant is described as being an asexual; however, it is unclear whether or not this trait is passed over into the film version.

In John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany, the narrator appears to be asexual. There is a brief mention that, in his teens, he is introduced to several female peers and is clumsy and ineffective in his attempts to make love to them. He remains a virgin when the book ends. In early adolescence he is tied up face-to-face with a major character called Hester (who jokingly calls herself "Hester the molester"). Although both find the experience uncomfortable and embarrassing, Hester goes on to have a sexual relationship with the title character. Later in the book, the narrator is referred to by others as a "non-practicing homosexual", a term also used by the board of trustees to describe Dr. Wilbur Larch in Irving's novel The Cider House Rules.

Kouta Hirano's character Montana Max is asexual in both of his incarnations, as he appears in two works that have no connection to each other. In the graphic novel Coyote, which is, ironically, pornographic, Max claims that it was his mother's prostitution in his family's one-room home which alienated him from sexuality, and that the only thing he cares for is war. Max is featured in Hirano's later work, Hellsing, despite its having no ties to Coyote, as an almost identically apparently asexual character. In both works, his mental state is generally abnormal, as he has an obsessive love for war in all its manifestations, regardless of any suffering on his part.

Kerewin Holmes, lead character of Keri Hulme's novel 'The Bone People' also confesses her own asexuality to Joe, and vehemently denies it being result of any kind of abuse at any stage in her life.

Laura Rambotham, from Henry Handel Richardson's novel, The Getting of Wisdom, shows complete carelessness for sex, and sexuality, unlike the rest of the girls at her school.

Spyros Deloglou (played by Giorgos Kapoutzidis), one of the main characters of the Greek sitcom Sto Para Pente, is commented by Dahlia to be asexual, after he confessed he had sexual intercourse only "one time and a half".

Psycho Mantis from the videogame Metal Gear Solid is considered an asexual for his belief and disgust at how "people only live to pass on their genes". Although, this is also a common Childfree attitude.

Paksenarrion Dorthansdotter, protagonist of the Tolkien-esque military fantasy trilogy The Deed of Paksenarrion is an asexual woman. She has close friendships with men and women, but mentions 'she never wanted to' be with anyone sexually.

In the science fiction webcomic Saturnalia, one of the main characters and members of PACER, Ellipsis, is identified as asexual beginning in chapter 10, although she prefers the term "non-sexual."

In V for Vendetta, the eponymous protagonist "V" behaves in an asexual fashion, most conspicuously in his relationship with the heroine Evey Hammond. Evey is 16 years old in the graphic novel, the legal age of consent in the United Kingdom, and she ends up spending a great deal of time alone with V, whom she grows to admire and even possibly become attracted to - yet V never touches her. He does, however, ask her once to dance with him. <blockquote>All that said, possible reasons other than clinical asexuality abound:</blockquote>
Given the storyline and V's background as a test subject in an ethnic cleansing project, it is not impossible that the enigmatic V is in fact homosexual.
V clearly sees Evey as, more than anything else, a protege. He also, however, treats her in some ways like a daughter - he informally bequeaths his home and possessions to her, and can even be seen reading bedtime stories to her. This makes additional sense given her orphan status. Furthermore, V's successful "grooming" of Evey as a protege could be considered a form of asexual reproduction.
Perhaps most significantly, V is portrayed as someone who has transcended his humanity and become the embodiment of an idea with seemingly no human identity whatsoever; sexuality being an animal drive, then, it would seem to no longer apply to him (assuming it ever did).
It is implied that V's physical appearance has been horrendously destroyed as a result of his test subject background, and he may therefore be too ashamed of his appearance to attempt to engage in romantic activity with Evey.

In John Steinbeck's East of Eden Cathy is implied to be an asexual person. The author goes on to include his thoughts on the existence of asexuals: <blockquote>

What freedom men and women could have, were they not constantly tricked and trapped and enslaved and tortured by their sexuality! The only drawback in that freedom is that without it one would not be a human. One would be a monster.

–John Steinbeck, East of Eden (1952), p. 74

</blockquote>

In the novel Hard Love by Ellen Wittlinger, the character John Galardi Jr aka Gio tends to shy away from romantic relationships and during the course of the novel only develops one with a lesbian named Marisol. Many times he states that he has "no attraction to men or women."

In the film Donnie Darko the main character suggests that Smurfs may be asexual.

In the recent Showtime television series Dexter, the benign murderer and protagonist, Dexter, begins the series as asexual. He later becomes sexually active, but without any substantial or noticeable drive.

External links

Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN)
Asexual and proud!. Salon, (May 26, 2005).
Feature: Glad to be asexual New Scientist, (October 142004).
No sex please, we're asexual. The Guardian, (14 October 2004).
Study: One in 100 adults asexual. CNN, (14 October 2004).

Citations

[1] http://archive.salon.com/mwt/feature/2005/05/26/asexual/, Harris, Lynn, Asexual and proud!, Salon.com, pp. 1-2, Salon Media Group, 2006-05-26.
[2] http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6533, Westphal, Sylvia, Feature: Glad to be asexual, New Scientist, 2004-10-14.
[3] Bogaert, Anthony F., Asexuality: prevalence and associated factors in a national probability sample, Journal of Sex Research, Vol. 41, No. 3, pp. 281, 2004, August.
[4] http://www.asexuality.org/docs/SSSS_2003.ppt, Prause, Nicole, C.A. Graham, Asexuality: A preliminary investigation.
[5] http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro06/web2/jengelman.html, Engelman, Jessica, Asexuality as a Human Sexual Orientation, 2006-04-27.

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