reportage
Fighting for visibility You haven’t met the right person yet! Are you a virgin? How will you know you don’t like it until you try? So, you want to be alone to the end of your life? It’s just a phase, and you’ll get over it! Did you experience sexual trauma? So, you don’t masturbate? These misconceptions asexual people hear pretty often. Let’s debunk myths and learn something about asexuality!
18 - VOICES
W
e all are born and raised in an allosexual world – allosexual means that it is natural to feel sexual attraction or intrinsic arousal to have sexual relationships. It can be explained by the instinct of human creatures to propagate the species. Not having any interest in sexual actions is unthinkable for allosexuals, like against nature. But I assure you, some people don’t feel sexual attraction, but for society, they are invisible. In the 2000s in the USA, David Jay founded AVEN (The Asexual Visibility and Education Network). Their main goals are education about asexuality and the growth of the asexual community. Still, many people don’t know that they may be from the asexual spectrum because of information deficit. To better explain whom asexual people are, let’s start with the concept of aesthetic, romantic, sensual, and sexual attraction.
Attraction can be defined as a force, mental or emotional, that draws people together. The aesthetic attraction is when you find it aesthetically pleasing to observe someone because of their beauty, but you haven’t any romantic or sexual plans towards them; it can be similar to when you admire a beautiful painting. Romantic attraction it’s like falling in love. Based on deep emotional feelings. You want to be romantically involved with another person and spend a lot of time together. Sensual attraction is about close physical contact. You want to cuddle, kiss, hug, or affectionate touch someone but in a non-sexual way. And last but not least – sexual attraction. It can be defined as a desire to have sexual intercourse with someone. But it shouldn’t be confused with libido. Cody DaigleOrians from Ace Dad Advice used a great culinary metaphor to differentiate libido from sexual
