Asexual

**Asexual** 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 spectrum"), 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 or reproduction without sex. 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 small but growing. 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.

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
* Finding others attractive, but not being attracted to them
* Enjoying hugging/kissing, but don't want to take things further
* Finding sex scenes boring

### History

#### 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.

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). It is a website, wiki, and forum that has connected thousands of asexual people across the world.

#### 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.

### 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

### Perceptions and discrimination

#### Dehumanization

Although further research is needed, asexual people may be the target of more prejudice, avoidance, and discrimination relative to cisgender and heterosexual people, and possibly to cisgender lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. Asexual people have been perceived as experiencing fewer human emotions and dehumanized by being characterized as both "machine-like" and "animal-like."

#### Exclusion

Asexual people can face prejudice from within the LGBTQ+ community, such as being refused entry to LGBTQ+ spaces, receiving inappropriate treatment from LGBTQ+ services, or being excluded from the LGBTQ+ umbrella. One belief is that the inclusion of asexuals and aromantics in the community will cause others to lose access to needed resources.