Asexuality (often shortened to “ace”) is a sexual orientation, defined by a lack of sexual attraction, it is different than Romantic attraction, Aesthetic and Platonic attraction, and Sensual attraction. Although some Asexuals do have sex, some are sex-repulsed, or just not interested. This does not mean that they are “broken” or need to be fixed, it’s just the way they are and that is 100% valid.
Asexuality is a spectrum, including:
Gray-asexuals/Graysexuals – those who only experience sexual attraction occasionally
Demisexuals – those who only experience sexual attraction once a strong bond is formed
Asexuals can be:
Homoromantic – romantically attracted to people of the same gender
Heteroromantic – romantically attracted to people of a different gender
Biromantic – romantically attracted to two or more genders
Panromantic – romantically attracted to all genders
Aromantic – not romantically attracted to anyone
Things you not to say to asexuals:
“It’s just a phase” “You’ll grow out of it” “So are you like, attracted to plants??” “That is so weird!” “Where you, y’know, r*ped or something?” “How do you know if you haven’t tried it?”
Things like these are very invalidating and rude, and frankly, none of your business.
Please do your best to be supportive, whether or not you understand.
let me know if I missed anything that should go on here and i’ll add it in
welcome back, happy day three of asexuality awareness week! it’s a lovely day to remember that aspec people are all lgbtqiap+ and belong unconditionally in queer communities, that aphobia is real, and that aphobes are super boring. I had several aspec people contact me asking about this concept (which applies similarly to romance and aromanticism), so I hope this is helpful; asexuality is the lack of sexual attraction to anyone of any gender and nothing more
tomorrow’s topic will be an extension of this one, where I will talk about how asexuality is also not the same as and has nothing to do with sex repulsion! hope to see you then!
I was in class the other day and I know this was probably from some science class. But the whiteboard said something along the lines of “benefits of asexuality: takes less energy” and I just though yeah I relate to that. It’s was so simple but such a brief moment of lighthearted joy.
You don’t have to understand asexuality or aromanticism (or bisexuality, pansexuality, being trans, noninary etc.) Just acknowledge it, respect it, and move on. These are real live human people we’re talking about here, just be nice.
( image description: four images in the colors of the asexual pride flag (black, grey, white and purple). bold text on top of them read: “accept and support asexual autistics”. end description. )
aceofsquiddles 