Columns | Data

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Asexuality

“Though desire for sex is considered one of our four primal drives, I lack such a desire almost completely.”

This is DATA, a monthly column by Angela Chen on numbers, nerdery, and what it means to live an evidence-based life.

Archives of Sexual Behavior

wanted

To want sex—to be the kind of person who “takes lovers”—is to be considered liberated, provocative, and passionate. Celibacy can be eroticized because the supposed restraint implies a rich appetite underneath. But lacking even the desire for something so seemingly fundamental is to be less of a person and more of an automaton.

In some states, not consummating a marriage is potential grounds for voiding it; in others, impotence is grounds for annulment.

anything

Washington Post

sad always

should

Our hundreds of emails ballooned into nearly ten thousand each month. I talked with him more than I had with anyone else, ever, about forest ecology and complexity classes, Susan Sontag’s diaries and my asexuality.

t his apartment, John asked again if he could put his arm around me. It was the first time he had done so since the day by the water; he quickly clarified that he expected nothing more. I said yes, this time reflexively moving closer instead of scooting away. Then I turned to face him.