Asexuality - Is It Even Real?
That was my reaction the first time I heard about asexuality. It’s a hard concept to fathom. Imagine going through life with zero interest in sex. Try wrapping your head around the idea of never being sexually attracted to another human being.
Like others, I wondered what makes someone asexual, especially given that the term tends to be misused or abused. While many people refer to people or themselves as being asexual, if just for spells, it’s the exception to the rule.
Case in point: In 2004, psychologist Anthony Bogaert from Brock University in Ontario, Canada, reported only 1 percent of adults have never felt sexual attraction for anyone. This was based on a national probability sample of 18,000 individuals.
Just to make sure we’re on the same page, when we talk about asexuality, we’re not talking about celibacy. One who is celibate — abstaining from sexual intercourse — may still experience sexual desire and attraction. A person also chooses to be celibate, whereas a person doesn’t decide to be asexual.
Very few people consider themselves asexual in the truest sense of the term. This means these individuals claim to never experience sexual attraction or the desire to be sexually intimate. Some may have been sexual at some point in their lives, even having sexual urges. They simply do not have a hankering for sexual intimacy with other people.