Restricted access

Research article

First published September 2006

Request permissions

Toward a Conceptual Understanding of Asexuality

Anthony F. Bogaert [email protected]View all authors and affiliations

Volume 10, Issue 3

https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.10.3.241

Abstract
References

Abstract

Asexuality has been the subject of recent academic (A. F. Bogaert, 2004) and public (e.g., New Scientist; CNN) discourse. This has raised questions about the conceptualization and definition of asexuality. Here the author reviews some of these issues, discusses asexuality from a sexual orientation point of view (i.e., as a lack of sexual attraction), and reviews the similarities and differences between this definition and related phenomena (e.g., hypoactive sexual desire disorder). Finally, the author concludes that the term asexuality should not necessarily be used to describe a pathological or health-compromised state.

Get full access to this article

View all access and purchase options for this article.

References

Ågmo A., Turi A. L., Ellingsen E., & Kaspersen H. (2004). Preclinical models of sexual desire: Conceptual and behavioural analyses. Pharmacology, Biochemistry, & Behavior, 78, 379–404.

American Psychiatric Association. (1980). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: Author.

American Psychological Association. (2002). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Bailey J. M., Dunne M. P., & Martin N. G. (2000). Genetic and environmental influences on sexual orientation and its correlates in an Australian twin sample. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 524–536.

Baumeister R. F. (1986). Identity: Cultural change and the struggle for self. New York: Oxford University Press.

Berkey B. R., Perelman-Hall T., & Kurdek L. A. (1990). The multidimensional scale of sexuality. Journal of Homosexuality, 19, 67–87.

Bogaert A. F. (2003). Number of older brothers and sexual orientation: New tests and attraction/behavior distinction in two national probability samples. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 644–652.

Bogaert A. F. (2004). Asexuality: Its prevalence and associated factors in a national probability sample. The Journal of Sex Research, 41, 279–287.

Busseri M., Willowby T., Chalmers H., & Bogaert A. F. (in press). Examining the lives of sexual-minority and heterosexual youth. Journal of Youth and Adolescence.

Chivers M. L., Reiger G., Latty E., & Bailey J. M. (2004). A sex difference in the specificity of sexual arousal. Psychological Science, 11, 736–744.

Diamond L. M. (2003a). New paradigms for research on heterosexual and sexual-minority development. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 32, 490–498.

Diamond L. M. (2003b). What does sexual orientation orient? A biobehavioral model distinguishing romantic love and sexual desire. Psychological Review, 110, 173–192.

Ellis L., & Ames M. A. (1987). Neurohormonal functioning and sexual orientation: A theory of homosexuality-heterosexuality. Psychological Bulletin, 101, 233–258.

Freund K. (1994). In search of an etiological model of pedophilia. Sexological Review, 2, 171–184.

Heimen J. R. (2002). Psychological treatments of female sexual dysfunctions: Are they effective and do we need them? Archives of Sexual Behavior, 31, 445–450.

Klein F., Sepekoff B., & Wolf T. J. (1985). Sexual orientation: A multi-variable dynamic process. Journal of Homosexuality, 11, 35–49.

Lalumière M. L., Blanchard R., & Zucker K. J. (2000). Sexual orientation and handedness in men and women: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 575–592.

Laumann E. O., Gagnon J. H., Michael R. T., & Michaels S. (1994). The social organization of sexuality: Sexual practices in the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Laumann E. O., Paik A., & Rosen R. C. (1999). Sexual dysfunction in the United States: Prevalence and predictors. Journal of American Medical Association, 281, 537–544.

LeVay S. (1991). A difference in hypothalamic structure between heterosexual and homosexual men. Science, 253, 1034–1037.

Meyer I. H. (2003). Prejudice, social stress, and mental health in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: Conceptual and research evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 674–697.

Money J. (1988). Gay, straight, and in-between. New York: Oxford University Press.

Mustanski B. S., Chivers M. L., & Bailey J. M. (2002). A critical review of recent biological research on human sexual orientation. Annual Review of Sex Research, 13, 89–140.

Pagán Westfall S. (2004, October 16). Glad to be A. New Scientist, 184, 40–43.

Rahman Q., & Wilson G. D. (2003). Born gay? The psychobiology of human sexual orientation. Personality and Individual Differences, 34, 1337–1382.

Sigusch V. (1998). The neosexual revolution. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 27, 339–351.

Storms M. D. (1980). Theories of sexual orientation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 38, 783–792.

Study: One in 100 adults asexual. (2004, October 14). CNN Retrieved April 15, 2005, from http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/10/14/asexual.study/index.html

van Anders S. M., Chernick A. B., Chernick B. A., Hampson E., & Fisher W. A. (2005). Preliminary clinical experience with androgen administration for pre- and postmenopausal women with hypoactive sexual desire. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 31, 173–187.

Wellings K., Field J., Johnson A., & Wadsworth J. (1994). Sexual behaviour in Britain: The National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles. London: Penguin Books.

World Health Organization. (1992). International statistical classification of diseases and related health problems (rev. ed.). Geneva, Switzerland: Author.

Zucker K. J., & Bradley S. J. (1995). Gender identity disorder and psychosexual problems in children and adolescents. New York: Guilford Press.

View full text|Download PDF

You currently have no access to this content. Visit the access options page to authenticate.