Resources for People Who Identify As Asexual Asexuality Refers to the Experiences of Individuals Who Have Little Or No Interest

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Resources for People who Identify as Asexual Asexuality refers to the experiences of individuals who have little or no interest in sex, though many of these people may still desire romantic relationships with others. Members of this community may also refer to themselves as “Ace” or “Aces” for short and may have intermittent or past experiences of sexual attraction towards others. Although there may not be different health concerns for this community compared to others, it’s important to recognize the unique struggles that they may face in the healthcare setting. For those unfamiliar with asexuality, the AsexualityArchives offers a brief introduction to the topic. Those who identify as asexual often face similar struggles as other members of the LGBTQ community. Asexual people may be at elevated risk of mental health concerns such as depression, anxiety, and interpersonal problems, according to some research. In the modern landscape, however, there may be differing structural discrimination in the form of legal privileges awarded to conjugal relationships, such as in marriage, which some asexual individuals may not desire due to their sexual orientation. Other research discusses how the general public finds sexuality to be an innate human quality; consequently, members of the public may be more prone to dehumanize asexual individuals, leaving them at an increased risk of social isolation and discrimination. The Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN) is the world’s largest online community of people who identify as asexual, and their website contains numerous resources and forums. When entering the healthcare setting, asexual people may have to explain, and sometimes defend, their sexual orientation to their healthcare provider. Healthcare professionals that lack information about the asexual community may benefit from reading more about their experience. Asexuality: Basics for Health professionals, compiled by AsexualSurvivors, hopes to accomplish this. Authors: Corey Walsh, BS & Cara Cheevers, MSW. Revised June 2019. .

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Asexuality 101
BY THE NUMBERS Asexual people (or aces) experience little or no 28% sexual attraction. While most asexual people desire emotionally intimate relationships, they are not drawn to sex as a way to express that intimacy. of the community is 18 or younger ASEXUALITY ISN’T ACES MIGHT 32% Abstinence because of Want friendship, a bad relationship understanding, and Abstinence because of empathy religious reasons Fall in love of the community are between 19 and 21 Celibacy Experience arousal and Sexual repression, orgasm aversion, or Masturbate 19% dysfunction Have sex Loss of libido due to Not have sex age or circumstance Be of any gender, age, Fear of intimacy or background of the community are currently Inability to find a Have a spouse and/or in high school partner children 40% of the community are in college Aromantic – people who experience little or no romantic 20% attraction and are content with close friendships and other non-romantic relationships. Demisexual – people who only experience sexual attraction of the community identify as once they form a strong emotional connection with the person. transgender or are questioning Grey-A – people who identify somewhere between sexual and their gender identity asexual on the sexuality spectrum. 41% Queerplatonic – One type of non-romantic relationship where there is an intense emotional connection going beyond what is traditionally thought of as friendship. Romantic orientations – Aces commonly use hetero-, homo-, of the community identify as part of the LGBT community bi-, and pan- in front of the word romantic to describe who they experience romantic attraction to. Source: Asexy Community Census http://www.tinyurl.com/AsexyCensusResults Asexual Awareness Week Community Engagement Series – Trevor Project | Last Updated April 2012 ACE SPECIFIC Feeling e mpty, isolated, Some aces voice a fear of ISSUES and/or alone.
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Asexuality: a Mixed-Methods Approach
Arch Sex Behav (2010) 39:599–618 DOI 10.1007/s10508-008-9434-x ORIGINAL PAPER Asexuality: A Mixed-Methods Approach Lori A. Brotto Æ Gail Knudson Æ Jess Inskip Æ Katherine Rhodes Æ Yvonne Erskine Received: 13 November 2007 / Revised: 20 June 2008 / Accepted: 9 August 2008 / Published online: 11 December 2008 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2008 Abstract Current definitions of asexuality focus on sexual having to ‘‘negotiate’’ sexual activity. There were not higher attraction, sexual behavior, and lack of sexual orientation or rates of psychopathology among asexuals; however, a subset sexual excitation; however, the extent to which these defi- might fit the criteria for Schizoid Personality Disorder. There nitions are accepted by self-identified asexuals is unknown. was also strong opposition to viewing asexuality as an ex- The goal of Study 1 was to examine relationship character- treme case of sexual desire disorder. Finally, asexuals were istics, frequency of sexual behaviors, sexual difficulties and very motivated to liaise with sex researchers to further the distress, psychopathology, interpersonal functioning, and scientific study of asexuality. alexithymia in 187 asexuals recruited from the Asexuality Visibility and Education Network (AVEN). Asexual men Keywords Asexuality Á Sexual identity Á Sexual (n = 54) and women (n = 133) completed validated ques- orientation Á Sexual attraction Á Romantic attraction Á tionnaires online. Sexual response was lower than normative Qualitative methodology data and was not experienced as distressing, and masturba- tion frequency in males was similar to available data for sexual men. Social withdrawal was the most elevated per- Introduction sonality subscale; however, interpersonal functioning was in the normal range.
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Flag Definitions
Flag Definitions Rainbow Flag : The rainbow flag, commonly known as the gay pride flag or LGBTQ pride flag, is a symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer pride and LGBTQ social movements. Always has red at the top and violet at the bottom. It represents the diversity of gays and lesbians around the world. Bisexual Pride Flag: Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behaviour toward both males and females, or to more than one sex or gender. Pink represents sexual attraction to the same sex only (gay and lesbian). Blue represents sexual attraction to the opposite sex only (Straight). Purple represents sexual attraction to both sexes (bi). The key to understanding the symbolism of the Bisexual flag is to know that the purple pixels of colour blend unnoticeably into both pink and blue, just as in the “real world” where bi people blend unnoticeably into both the gay/lesbian and straight communities. Transgender Pride Flag: Transgender people have a gender identity or gender expression that differs from their assigned sex. Blue stripes at top and bottom is the traditional colour for baby boys. Pink stipes next to them are the traditional colour for baby girls. White stripe in the middle is for people that are nonbinary, feel that they don’t have a gender. The pattern is such that no matter which way you fly it, it is always correct, signifying us finding correctness in our lives. Intersex Pride Flag: Intersex people are those who do not exhibit all the biological characteristics of male or female, or exhibit a combination of characteristics, at birth.
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Genders & Sexualities Terms
GENDERS & SEXUALITIES TERMS All terms should be evaluated by your local community to determine what best fits. As with all language, the communities that utilize these and other words may have different meanings and reasons for using different terminology within different groups. Agender: a person who does not identify with a gender identity or gender expression; some agender-identifying people consider themselves gender neutral, genderless, and/or non- binary, while some consider “agender” to be their gender identity. Ally/Accomplice: a person who recognizes their privilege and is actively engaged in a community of resistance to dismantle the systems of oppression. They do not show up to “help” or participate as a way to make themselves feel less guilty about privilege but are able to lean into discomfort and have hard conversations about being held accountable and the ways they must use their privilege and/or social capital for the true liberation of oppressed communities. Androgynous: a person who expresses or presents merged socially-defined masculine and feminine characteristics, or mainly neutral characteristics. Asexual: having a lack of (or low level of) sexual attraction to others and/or a lack of interest or desire for sex or sexual partners. Asexuality exists on a spectrum from people who experience no sexual attraction nor have any desire for sex, to those who experience low levels of sexual attraction and only after significant amounts of time. Many of these different places on the spectrum have their own identity labels. Another term used within the asexual community is “ace,” meaning someone who is asexual.
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Asexual People's Experience with Microaggressions
City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Student Theses John Jay College of Criminal Justice Winter 1-23-2018 Asexual People’s Experience with Microaggressions Tamara Deutsch CUNY John Jay College, [email protected] How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/jj_etds/52 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] RUNNING HEAD: The Experiences of Asexual People With Microaggressions 1 Asexual People’s Experience with Microaggressions Tamara Deutsch John Jay College of Criminal Justice A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Forensic Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice – City University of New York The Experiences of Asexual People With Microaggressions 2 Table of Contents Abstract......................................................................................2 Introduction and Literature Review........................................................................3 Methods.......................................................................................9 Results........................................................................................12 Discussion...................................................................................18 References..................................................................................22
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Passing When Asexual: Methods for Appearing Straight
Passing When Asexual: Methods for Appearing Straight Taylor Rossi Before Bogaert’s 2004 landmark study, asexuality was a relatively unexplored fringe area of sexual identity. Prior to Bogaert, the only work that had significantly acknowledged asexuality was the famed Kinsey Scale, which had labeled it as “no socio-sexual contacts or reactions” (Kinsey 1948). Asexuality is still a largely unknown and under-researched sexuality. In short, an asexual person is someone who does not experience sexual attraction to anyone. It is often confused with celibacy or chastity due to a lack of understanding, or incorrectly diagnosed by psychologists as hypoactive sexual desire disorder or HSDD (Bogaert 2015). For those reasons asexuality can be difficult to understand, even to those who identify with it, leaving researchers and participants alike with more questions than there are academic answers. Asexuality is a sexual identity in the same way that homosexuality, pansexuality, bisexuality, etc are and therefore exhibits similar trends and rituals. Such rituals include coming out, or the alternative – passing. Passing preserves the status quo of heterosexuality, but is often associated with uncertainty, disillusionment, and self-doubt on the part of the person passing (Chow and Cheng 2010). In a world so sexualized, from advertisements to TV shows and movies, the discovery and acceptance (or lack thereof) of one's asexuality is often shrouded with uncertainty. It is due to this uncertainty and lack of information that more research on asexuality be done and prompting the question, what passing methods are used by those in the asexual community? This question is answered using the testimonies of eight participants, as well as existing research on the topic, and the researcher's own power of implication.
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Mental Health and Interpersonal Functioning in Self-Identified Asexual
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Agender Ally Androgynous Androgyne Androsexual/Androphilic Asexual
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Asexuality: Dysfunction Or Sexual Orientation?
em & yst Se S xu e a v l i t D c i Reproductive System & Sexual s u o Parente and Albuquerque, Reprod Syst Sex Disord 2016, 5:3 d r o d r e p r e DOI:10.4172/2161-038X.1000185 s R Disorders: Current Research ISSN: 2161-038X Commentary Open Access Asexuality: Dysfunction or Sexual Orientation? Jeanderson Soares Parente1 and Grayce Alencar Albuquerque2* 1Faculdade de Juazeiro do Norte-FJN, Member of the Research Group on Sexuality, Gender, Sexual Diversity and Inclusion-GPESGDI 2Nursing Department, Universidade Regional do Cariri- URCA *Corresponding author: Albuquerque GA, Assistant Professor of the Nursing Department of the Universidade Regional do Cariri- URCA, Coordinator of the Observatory of Violence and Human Rights, Leader of the Research Group on Sexuality, Gender, Sexual Diversity and Inclusion-GPESGDI, Street Vicente Furtado, 521, Limoeiro, Juazeiro do Norte, Ceará, Brasil, Tel: +55-88-988878717; E-mail: [email protected] Rec date: July 2, 2016; Acc date: July 20, 2016; Pub date: July 27, 2016 Copyright: © 2016 Parente JS, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract The objective was to perform a brief reflection on asexuality and its relationship with medical (pathologizing) and social (sexual diversity) practices. Asexuality is still considered a sexual dysfunction capable of medicalization in medical practice, although currently, with the visibility of sexual diversity, asexual identity has been breaking the paradigm of medicalization of sexuality.
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I Think I Might Be Asexual “Trust Your Gut and Allow Yourself the Grace and Gentleness of Uncertainty for As Long As You Need
I Think I Might Be Asexual “Trust your gut and allow yourself the grace and gentleness of uncertainty for as long as you need. You have your whole life to figure out who you are and what you want. You can identify as ace now and change your mind later. You can identify as ace but sometimes experience sexual attraction. You can choose to have or not to have sex for a million valid reasons. None of this is hard and fast, and most importantly, you don’t owe anyone an explanation. ” - Foster Sex - when you’re born, the What Does It Mean to Be Asexual? doctor decides if you are male or female based on if you have Someone who is asexual doesn’t experience sexual attraction and/or doesn’t desire a penis or vagina sexual contact. Asexuals may also use shorthand like “Ace” to describe their sexual Gender - What defines orientation. An asexual person can be straight, gay, bisexual or queer because sexual someone as feminine or attraction is only one kind of attraction. masculine, including how people expect you to behave as well as how you feel and An asexual person may or may not identify as LGBTQ. It’s important to ask, and identify respect their preference. Someone can still be physically, emotionally, mentally and/ Sexual orientation - to whom or spiritually attracted to someone, date, fall in love and/or get married, even if they you are sexually attracted. don’t have sex, don’t like sex or don’t want to have sex. Some asexuals may still have Sexual orientation isn’t dictated by sex or gender; sex or masturbate, while others may not.
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Trifold Brochure
For More Information: Asexuality Asexuality is a sexual orientation Glossary characterized by a Visit: persistent lack of http://www.whatisasexuality.com/outreach/glossary/ sexual attraction toward any gender. At least 1% of people are believed Pamphlet Produced By: What Is to be asexual. Asexuality? w w w . w h a t i s a s e x u a l i t y . c o m In Association With: AsexualityArchive.com Ace: Short for“asexual”. Biromantic: A romantic orientation Lithromantic: Someone who experiences characterized by romantic attraction romantic attraction, but does not desire Ace Spectrum: The grouping of asexual, regardless of gender. reciprocation. demisexual, and gray-asexual under a single umbrella of related sexual orientation. Demi: Short for “Demisexual”. MOGAI: Marginalized Orientations, Gender Identities, and Intersex. Aesthetic Attraction: Non-sexual/non- Demiromantic: Someone who does not romantic attraction to the way someone experience romantic attraction unless they Non-Libidoist: Someone who does not looks. have formed a strong emotional bond. have a libido. Allo: Short for “Allosexual/romantic” Demisexual: Someone who does not Panromantic: A romantic orientation experience sexual attraction unless they characterized by romantic attraction Alloromantic: Someone who experiences have formed a strong emotional bond. regardless of gender. romantic attraction; not aromantic. Grace: An abbreviation of “Gray-Asexual”. Queerplatonic Relationship: A close Allosexual: Someone who experiences relationship that does not fit within the sexual attraction; not asexual. Gray-A: An abbreviation of “Gray- traditional boundaries of a romantic or Asexual”. sexual relationship or a friendship. Arc: Short for “Averse, Replused, or Conflicted”, which can describe someone's Gray-Asexual: Someone who rarely feels Repulsed: Feeling disgusted or put off by personal feelings about sex or romance.
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Performing Asexuality Through Narratives of Sexual Identity
San Jose State University SJSU ScholarWorks Master's Theses Master's Theses and Graduate Research Summer 2011 Performing Asexuality through Narratives of Sexual Identity Janet Sundrud San Jose State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses Recommended Citation Sundrud, Janet, "Performing Asexuality through Narratives of Sexual Identity" (2011). Master's Theses. 4074. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31979/etd.4bkg-gysx https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/4074 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Master's Theses and Graduate Research at SJSU ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of SJSU ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. PERFORMING ASEXUALITY THROUGH NARRATIVES OF SEXUAL IDENTITY A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of Communication Studies San José State University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts by Janet L. Sundrud August 2011 © 2011 Janet L. Sundrud ALL RIGHTS RESERVED The Designated Thesis Committee Approves the Thesis Titled PERFORMING ASEXUALITY THROUGH NARRATIVES OF SEXUAL IDENTITY by Janet L. Sundrud APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES SAN JOSÉ STATE UNIVERSITY August 2011 Dr. Matthew Spangler Department of Communication Studies Dr. David Terry Department of Communication Studies Dr. Shawn Spano Department of Communication Studies Abstract PERFORMING ASEXUALITY THROUGH NARRATIVES OF SEXUAL IDENTITY by Janet L. Sundrud This thesis explores the social construction of asexual identities through everyday narrative performances and critically examines the marginalizing effects of heteronormative discourses. This thesis posits narrative performance as a framework for understanding asexual identities within a heteronormative society.
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