Reconsidering Asexuality and Its Radical Potential

FOR THE ASEXUAL COMMUNITY, ASEXUALITY is a matter of self-identification: it is defined as a lack of sexual attraction combined with one's identification as asexual. Such a definition is certainly circular, but it functions as a way for the asexual community to explain asexuality to non-asexual...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Feminist studies 2013-06, Vol.39 (2), p.405-426
Main Author: Chasin, CJ DeLuzio
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic staff
Asexuality
Asexuality (Sexual orientation)
Communities
Community
Couples
Demographic aspects
Depressive disorders
Desire
Discourse analysis
Disorders
Female homosexuality
Feminism
Feminist theory
Function
Gender identity
Legitimacy
Membership
Men
Mental Illness
Pathology
Perceptions
Political aspects
Psychiatry
Psychological Distress
Psychologists
Radicalism
Repression
Sexual behaviour
Sexual orientation
Sexual Preferences
Sexuality
Social aspects
Universities
Women's studies
Womens health
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Summary:FOR THE ASEXUAL COMMUNITY, ASEXUALITY is a matter of self-identification: it is defined as a lack of sexual attraction combined with one's identification as asexual. Such a definition is certainly circular, but it functions as a way for the asexual community to explain asexuality to non-asexuals-that asexuals are people who do not experience sexual attraction-while simultaneously allowing people to decide for themselves their membership in the asexual community. When I first discovered the asexual community years ago, it was not a definition of asexuality per se that struck me or led me to call myself asexual; it was the incredible sense that these people-members of the asexual community-sounded like me. Academic research, in contrast, has largely defined asexuality as a lifelong lack of sexual attraction and in doing so has positioned asexuality in line with essentialist discourses of sexual orientation. This has had the impact of allowing people to argue that asexuality should be seen as nonpathological, by distinguishing it from the psychiatric diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) of Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder (HSDD)-defined as low sexual desire accompanied by marked distress or interpersonal difficulties-without challenging either the diagnosis or the psychiatric institution governing it. Adapted from the source document.
ISSN:0046-3663
2153-3873
2153-3873
DOI:10.1353/fem.2013.0054