Let’s talk about asexuality, an identity that a lot of people still don’t know a lot about.
1) People who are asexual do not experience sexual attraction or desire, and can often fall on a spectrum.
2) This spectrum includes the grey-ace or grey-a orientation. Grey-ace means that the person identifies as somewhere between sexual and asexual. People who identify as grey-aceoften experience sexual attraction or desire under certain situations or may experience some sexual attraction or desire but have a very low sex drive. Part of grey-ace is also the demisexual orientation. Demiexual is when a person only experiences sexual attraction or desire after they have developed a strong emotional connection towards someone.
3) Asexuals are shunned for their beliefs and a lot of them face discrimination, bullying, and are made to feel like they don’t belong to greater society and sometimes even the LGBTQ+ community (it’s 2017, I know).
4) Asexuality refers to the sexual orientation, which is different from the romantic orientation. Asexuality ties into other identities such as aromantic (no romantic attraction towards anyone), heteroromantic (romantic attraction towards the opposite sex), homoromantic (romantic attraction towards the same sex), biromantic (romantic attraction towards men and women), and panromantic (a person who can be romantically attracted to anyone, not limited by sex or gender).
5) There is still stigma and a lack of understanding about asexuality even though it’s 2017, so it’s always better to ask what someone identifies as (if you’re close to the person and they feel comfortable talking about their sexual and/or romantic orientation) instead of assuming and risking offending them.
For more information, you can always check out:
AVEN- The Asexual Visibility and Education Network: http://www.asexuality.org