Asexual

Definition: In science, the term asexual may refer to an organism that reproduces without sexual activity with another organism. More broadly asexual has come to mean being devoid of sexuality, often including:

• Not being sexually attracted to others
• Not being considered sexually attractive by others
• Not desiring sexual interactions with others
• Not having sex

In the past decade or so, in large part because of organizing on the Internet, a group of people have come to identify themselves as asexual and believe the term should be used as a unique sexual orientation. While no generalizations can be made, and little research has been done, people who identify as asexual say that while they desire connections with others they don’t have a desire for those connections to be sexual, but they don’t experience distress because of the lack of sexual desire.

The only large survey using a national probability sample (from Great Britain) suggests that perhaps 1% of the population may be asexual. However much more research needs to be done before drawing any conclusions.

Read more about asexuality.

_Sources:

_{Asexuality Visibility and Education Network}

[sub[Bogaert, A.F. “Toward a Conceptual Understanding of Asexuality” Review of General Psychology Vol. 10, No. 3 (2006): 241–250.

_{Bogaert, A. F. “Asexuality: Its Prevalence and Associated Factors in a National Probability Sample” The Journal of Sex Research Vol. 41 (2004): 279–287.}