“LONDON, England (CNN) — About one percent of adults have absolutely no interest in sex, according to a new study, and that distinction is becoming one of pride among many asexuals. …
“It was published in the latest issue of The Journal of Sex Research and is the focus of a report in this Saturday’s issue of New Scientist.”
The New Scientist report notes that the percentage of asexuals is comparable to the percentage of people who are gay — three percent — though quantification of gays varies depending on whether sexual attraction, sexual behavior, or sexual self-labeling are being surveyed.
This is not the first study to uncover a significant number of asexuals:
“A 1994 survey, published by The University of Chicago Press, found that 13 percent of 3,500 respondents had no sex in the past year. Forty percent of those people said they were extremely happy or very happy with their lives.”
For more information:
Asexual Visibility and Education Network
It should also be noted that there’s a difference between celibate behaviour and an asexual orienation. :p
How can a 23 year old tell if they are asexual or simply so deep in the closet that they can’t imagine sex? The New Scientist article had quotes from the 23 year old BBS founder and a number of 17 – mid-20s year old people. The oldest self-described asexual quoted was 40. I’d be more convinced if they had a large population of over 40 or over 50 year old people. While I don’t doubt that there are many people for whom the minuses of sex outweigh the pluses, it does seem odd that some people are classifying themselves as permanently (as opposed to contingently) asexual.
yes but do they have a FLAG yet?
Cuz we sexual deviants could really use a couple more…
Nah I doubt anyone could be so deep in the closet that they could not imagine sex. Feel guilty about imagining sex perhaps, but that is very different from having no interest in it what so ever. I can’t see the need for being in the closet if you were not interested in sexual relations or at least dangerously close emotional/physical ones. I also don’t think they are in denial because they admit to not having any interest what so ever as opposed to trying to be celibate or trying to change or just admitting no interest in the opposite sex (and not saying a thing about the same).
You are right they are young, but they are not that young. The 17-year-old might be a late bloomer, but I can not see a man in the early to mid 20ies not being interested in it unless they were asexual. I think that the greater acceptance of the idea of orientation has simply helped people who had little to no sex drive to relabel themselves and accept themselves as they are. In fact their words kinda remind me about how I felt about sex when I was a teenager. In short was not as interested in it as the others at my age at least until I hit 18. At which point I more than made up for previous lack of interest. I did experience attractions but those attractions were fewer, father between and never slight or moderate. They were very rare but strong. At 16 I wasn’t desperate to loose my virginity but at 18 I couldn’t hold off any longer as the attractions became more frequent and began to range from none to strong. It is much more difficult to be non-sexual when surrounded by people you find slightly to moderately attractive than to be non-sexual when surrounded by people you don’t find attractive at all.
One of the strands within the ‘reparative therapy’ approach, is to repress all feelings of unwanted homosexual attraction. This in theory was one of the steps that would allow ‘innate heterosexual feelings’ to develop.
However, I am not the only one who found that this led to a virtual asexuality, when the promised heterosexual feelings failed to develop.
I agree with Nancy that early twenties is too young to box oneself permanently into an ‘asexual’ label. We human beings continue to develop over a long time.
It’s seems to be a broad category. Looking over their information and discussion forums, I see some of them do feel attraction and identify as gay or straight, but just don’t have much of a sex drive – more romantic than sexual feelings. On the other hand, there’s the guy in one discussion forum who both identifies as asexual and has recently been masturbating twice a day??? I imagine there’s plenty of people over 40 who don’t have much of a sex drive, but who wouldn’t describe that as an asexual orientation.
I also notice that their FAQs seem to allow for the possibility of asexuality being something people move in and out of, as opposed to an inherently permanent orientation.
By the way, rare but strong attractions, as Jason describes experiencing in his teens, sounds to me like pretty much my entire life. I’ve never been surrounded by people I find slightly to moderately attractive (except in a purely aesthetic, not sexual, sense). On the other hand, I’ve nearly always been able to identify at least one person that I found attractive (but generally only one or two people at a time).
So wait, Jimbo…. having one or two attractions at the least, and always having that….thats a rare amount of attraction?
Wow, did you check the date on this thread?