Asexuality

Asexual people have little or no sexual attraction to other people. The Asexuality does not require treatment as long as it does not result in suffering.

What is asexuality?

Asexuality is defined as a certain sexual orientation, i.e. analogous to heterosexuality or homosexuality. Asexuality is not synonymous with the fact that a man or a woman has no sexuality, but by definition it is a certain form of sexual orientation towards none of the genders.

Asexual people therefore have their own gender identity, but they do not feel sexually attracted to their own sex or to the opposite sex. In the international classification of diseases and conditions, ICD 10, the loss or lack of sexual interest is described as a clinical picture or as a mental disorder.

Reduced libido, i.e. reduced sexual appetite, is also defined as an involuntary decrease or an involuntary lack of sexual desire or sexual fantasies. However, according to ICD 10, the concept of illness is expressly linked to psychological strain. One criterion for the clinical diagnosis would therefore be a pronounced, clear suffering.

But this is precisely what is not the case with the vast majority of asexual people. Asexuals do not suffer from the non-existent sex relationship, but at most from the fact that they do not feel taken seriously or understood by their fellow human beings. A special characteristic of asexuality that does not require treatment is therefore no direct suffering.

Function & task

The concept of asexuality was coined in 1886 by the psychiatrist Krafft-Ebing, who named this phenomenon in his work Psychopathia Sexualis. The sexual abnormalities described therein were already groundbreaking for sexual research at the time.

Asexuality has existed as long as there have been people, but this special sexual orientation is now being given a new relevance. Due to the constant presence of the topic of sexuality in all media, those affected often feel a certain pressure to have to be sexual, although this is precisely what they are not or only limited by their nature. In a large-scale study in 1948, the sex researcher Alfred Kinsey was able to work out that, in addition to heterosexual and homosexual desire, there are also asexual individuals who are not sexually attracted to women or men.

The doctor Myra Johnson published a similar scientific article in 1977, which describes asexuality not as a disorder, but as a certain form of sexual orientation. From a purely physical point of view, asexual people are quite capable of sexual acts, but they have no desire for them. It is known from surveys of asexuals that some also masturbate, but even then typically do not develop sexual fantasies about other people.

Nor can it be generally said that asexuals never have sex. If the partner is not also asexual, some asexuals do make compromises in order not to lose their beloved partner. In addition, people who call themselves basically asexual can engage in sex out of pure curiosity or it gives them a certain pleasure in giving their counterpart satisfaction and pleasure without them themselves feeling any sexual sensation.

Illnesses & ailments

Relationships, arousal and attraction are always directly related to a person's asexuality. Asexuals have very different wishes and ideas about relationships. While some prefer to stay to themselves, other asexuals have romantic relationships. In agreement, however, regardless of the relationship model, asexuals say that there is no relationship between sexuality and love for them.

For most asexual people, arousal is a process that is perceived to be fairly common and unrelated to finding a sex partner. If there is no external pressure that is perceived as social or family, the vast majority of asexual people do not experience any medical or even psychological problem. This is also the main reason why medical treatment is not sought because of a self-perceived asexuality. As for attraction, asexuals can also be strongly attracted to other people.

However, this desire should not be expressed on a sexual level, but in the form of a close romantic relationship in which sexuality is not in the foreground. Asexual people can find other people very aesthetically pleasing and attractive. For them, however, there is no great difference to the observation of other beautiful things, such as a picture or a flower.

For heterosexual or homosexual people, attraction includes the sexual aspect, i.e. sexual desire. Asexuals, on the other hand, describe their attraction to other people in other types of intimacy that are defined almost or entirely without sexual desire.

Furthermore, as research shows, asexuality is not necessarily static during a person's lifetime. Sexual and asexual phases can alternate. Non-sexual intimacy can be lived out by those affected in a variety of ways. In this way, deep intimacy can arise in honest, close conversations as well as through joint activities and experiences or through physical closeness without practicing sexuality.

In this sense, asexuality is associated with illnesses or complaints, for example when external social pressure acts on the individual or when suffering arises due to the lack of pleasure. However, it may then be more of a sexual aversion than a general asexuality.