Asexuality

This entry describes asexuality, a form of sexual identification that has become increasingly widely recognized in a little over a decade. Commonly defined as the absence of an experience of sexual attraction, the recognition of asexuality complicates many aspects of our existing understanding of sexuality and raises important questions for how we study it. Much academic and lay discussion of sexuality assumes that everyone experiences sexual attraction, but the emergence of the asexual community demonstrates the falsity of this assumption. This entry begins with an introduction of the asexual identity and the different meanings it can have for a self-identified asexual. It then turns to common experiences shared by asexual people in spite of the differences among them. Finally, the difficulties faced by many asexual ...