When Dean was a little boy, he played on swings and his favorite school yard game was tag. He was friends with both girls and boys during elementary school. Middle school came and went and he remained friends with both sexes. His parents and family friends assumed he was a late bloomer due to his lack of girlfriends, or even crushes. As high school progressed, his peers observed that he wasn’t dating, and commented on it. He assured his friends that he wasn’t interested in anyone specific and the friends accepted it. This trend of remaining single and uninterested in romantic relationships persisted into college. It was there at college that Dean learned about asexuality in a human sexuality class. For the first time, he felt quiet relief when
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“Approximately 40% of people who reported no sexual attraction for others had masturbated in the last month” (Bogaert, 2012). This exploration gives a different aspect of asexuality altogether, suggesting that asexuals have sexuality, albeit with themselves. Just as we see asexuality can encompass sexuality of the self, it can also include a range of differences. Just as sexuality has been described as a sliding scale by Kinsey, it has been suggested that asexuality falls on a spectrum. The range can vary from sex repulsed to demisexual to gray-asexual. Demisexual can be defined as only having sexual attraction towards another individual after forming a close bond. Gray-asexual may be defined with more personal interpretation, but roughly known as someone who occasionally experiences sexual attraction, someone who experiences some sexual attraction but not enough to act on the attraction, and individuals who are able to appreciate and want sexual activity with others but only under specific situations or with other definite individuals. As with sexuality, asexuality can change over time, but does not necessarily need or do so. One response when an adolescent comes out as asexual, or any other non heterosexual identity, is that the identity itself is a phase or merely temporary. As there is evidence that non heterosexual identities do not necessarily need be a phase, one can understand that asexuality need not be a phase as well. Sexuality and asexuality can be fluid, but they do not have to
“Approximately 40% of people who reported no sexual attraction for others had masturbated in the last month” (Bogaert, 2012). This exploration gives a different aspect of asexuality altogether, suggesting that asexuals have sexuality, albeit with themselves. Just as we see asexuality can encompass sexuality of the self, it can also include a range of differences. Just as sexuality has been described as a sliding scale by Kinsey, it has been suggested that asexuality falls on a spectrum. The range can vary from sex repulsed to demisexual to gray-asexual. Demisexual can be defined as only having sexual attraction towards another individual after forming a close bond. Gray-asexual may be defined with more personal interpretation, but roughly known as someone who occasionally experiences sexual attraction, someone who experiences some sexual attraction but not enough to act on the attraction, and individuals who are able to appreciate and want sexual activity with others but only under specific situations or with other definite individuals. As with sexuality, asexuality can change over time, but does not necessarily need or do so. One response when an adolescent comes out as asexual, or any other non heterosexual identity, is that the identity itself is a phase or merely temporary. As there is evidence that non heterosexual identities do not necessarily need be a phase, one can understand that asexuality need not be a phase as well. Sexuality and asexuality can be fluid, but they do not have to