“Never has she been subdued in lovemaking by Aphrodite, lover of smiles, For she takes pleasure in the bow and arrows”
-Homeric Hymn #5 to Aphrodite
Definition
Someone who is asexual is a person who doesn’t really have any interest in sex at all. Instead they tend to pursue platonic relationships that have nothing to do with sex. They may not even have a sexual orientation because they might not be attracted to anyone at all. Unlike other people who abstain from sex because they have strong religious beliefs, asexual people really don’t have any desires or sexual urges. Some people who are asexual still do have sex because they want to fit into social norms, and perhaps have a family or pleasure their partners, but many just live their lives without any type of sexuality.
AVEN
There is a network called the Asexual Visibility and Education Network which is a resource center on the net for people who think the might be asexual or for people who want to learn more about this unique way of being. It is a very supportive organization that doesn’t try to put too many barriers on what constitutes as asexual. They basically say that if you feel like you want to use that term to describe yourself then go ahead and do it.
Romance
People who are asexual also have romantic identities because they might interact with the world more through the lense of romance than sex. Someone who is asexual can be biromantic – meaning interested in romance with people of male or female identities, heteroromantic, homoromantic, panromantic and even aromantic. People who are both aromantic and asexual don’t have lonely lives because they may fill their time with fun friends and people who love them in a more platonic way. Even though asexuality might seem strange to people who are involved in our sex crazed society, they’ve always been around in the form of old maids or single guys who didn’t mind the pioneer lifestyle which required them to be alone in the woods for their whole lives. Some freaky people enjoy the challenge of trying to convert asexual partners by creating elaborate sexual relationships in the hope of eventually turning them on. Whether they succeed or fail to accomplish that goal, the fun is in trying to reach the unreachable!