Human asexuality

No sex please

Celibacy is a choice

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Asexuality is an orientation.

It’s not something you choose to be

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It’s something you’re born as

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Many asexuals have a sex drive, and many of them masturbate.

But what makes them different is that their libido is dissociated from sexual attraction.

Having a sex drive doesn’t translate into wanting sex.

A survey carried out in 1994 found that 1.05 per cent of respondents had never felt sexually attracted to anyone at all

In fact, more than 50 years ago, pioneering sex researcher Alfred Kinsey seemed to be aware of asexuality.

He devised a scale of sexual orientation, in which subjects ranged from a score of 0 (completely homosexual) to 6 (completely heterosexual).

But he labelled 1.5 per cent of adult males as “X” – neither homosexual nor heterosexual, nor anything in between.

They were simply uninterested in sex.

For a long time, Kinsey’s Xs have remained hidden, but with the sexual revolution continuing at pace, asexuals are beginning to speak out.

Asexuality is not just a situation that affects the young adult – it can extend into older age groups, although they may not be so obvious

The feeling of not being sexually attracted to anyone is part of a spectrum, and can affect men and women.

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It’s part of society’s rich tapestry of life

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Not in the mood: The facts

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According to Kinsey’s ‘Sexual Behavior in the Human Male’, 1.5 per cent of the adult male population exhibits “no socio-sexual contacts or reactions”

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In ‘Sexual Behavior in the Human Female’, Kinsey argued that up to 19 per cent of the unmarried female population exhibited asexual behaviour or reactions.

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A study in the US found that 33.57 per cent of asexuals have problems with self-esteem.

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In 1994, a British study found that 1 per cent of people had never felt any sexual attraction to another person. The same study found that a larger proportion of women than men are asexual.

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In 1982, a survey of ‘Playboy’ magazine readers found that 2 per cent of respondents were asexual

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Possible causes of asexuality include genetic predisposition, hormonal imbalance or childhood experiences.
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The largest asexuality group on Facebook has 585 members.

Independent