community
fragment d: what is asexuality?
Before surveying a virtual community devoted to the visibility
and education of asexuality, it's important to understand exactly
what asexuality is. AVEN defines asexuality as "a person
who does not experience sexual attraction" (AVEN). Asexuality
is not to be confused with celibacy, as a celibate person chooses
to abstain from sexual activity and relationships whereas an asexual
person simply does not feel compelled to participate in
either (AVEN). For example, the amount of sexual attraction
the high majority of human beings will generate for a tree stump
is equivalent to what an asexual person feels not only for that
tree stump, but also for human beings, animals, lamp posts--you
name it. The desire isn't there.
Some may see asexuality as a disease, a disadvantage, or a terrible
misfortune, but it's only a lack of sexual desire. Daily,
minute-to-minute, we're confronted with advertisements trying to
sell us the important of a particular yogurt or fleece pullover. To
a degree, we're resilient, but when a product appeals to our tastes,
we're quickly compelled to buy it. Society, in the same
way, sells the importance of sex. An asexual person is simply
resilient to that particular sales pitch.
AVEN describes sex as a vehicle to express emotion, to boost an ego,
to have fun, or for any number of things (AVEN). "It
is those things which are important, not the sex itself, and all
of those things can be done nonsexually [sic]" (AVEN). How
we experience them is up to our us and our orientations, which may
include a large sexual appetite or none at all. |
