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Description

Love is an emotional connection. It is caring, long-lasting joy, a pure kind of positivity. It does not require attraction, or any kind of intimacy beyond the emotional kind. It's why you can genuinely love a pet, or an activity. It's why you can be in a happy, long-term relationship without what the media might push as necessary. Love is love, as much for asexuals as for everyone else.

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Yes, pride art, just in time for the end of the month! What I want to achieve with this most (aside from expressing myself and creating some beauty in this world, as I always want to do) is to educate people, so here goes!

Asexuality is a poorly known and oftentimes misunderstood orientation, so I want to shed a little light on what it is so you can better understand and support people around you who might be asexual- perhaps even yourself.

Asexuals are also sometimes called 'aces' for short, hence the title.

What is asexuality?

Asexuality is the lack of sexual attraction towards anyone. Simple as that.

What is NOT asexuality?

It is NOT a lack of romantic attraction, that's called aromanticism. About a third of asexuals are also aromantic. The rest does experience romantic attraction.

Asexualty is also NOT a lack of libido (that's independent of attraction, although many asexuals do have little or no libido) or sexual activity (again independent of attraction, though of course asexuals tend to have less reason to do so).

Asexuality is NOT celibacy (that's experiencing attraction, but not acting on it. Asexuals don't feel the attraction in the first place).

Also, while late bloomers do exist, asexuality has nothing to do with age. Asexuals exist in their teens, in their twenties, in their sixties.

Food analogy

For a simple analogy, I like to compare it with hunger. Sometimes you may really crave pizza. That's hunger directed towards pizza. It's experiencing attraction, as it were, to pizza. In that comparison, asexuals may get hungry (though many rarely or never do), but they never crave any particular food. They can still eat, however, even if they're not hungry. There's nothing inherently harmful about eating when you're not hungry, as long as it is fully voluntary. By this analogy, many don't eat at all, and that is perfectly fine too since they don't need or want it.

How can you support asexuals?

- Get to know the definition, and don't confuse it with libido, activity, or romantic attraction.

- Don't second-guess anyone who comes out as asexual. They've in all likelihood done a lot of thinking before they arrived at that conclusion.

- Where appropriate, acknowledge that asexuality exists.

- Don't feel sorry for anyone who admits to feeling no attraction. They are perfectly capable of being happy the way they are- as long as people don't constantly push the idea that they are 'broken' onto them. They are not broken.

- They are also perfectly capable of experiencing and giving love, including, for most, the romantic kind. Don't be shocked if they have a romantic partner, and don't ask about anything highly personal unless they explicitly state that they are comfortable with that. They may be fine with sharing their asexuality, but that doesn't mean they automatically want to share all the personal details. Don't be creepy.

- Treat them as you would like to be treated. Asexual adults are no less mature than other adults.

If you would like to learn more

The asexuality subreddit has a hub with many useful links if you'd like to do some further reading or have some questions I didn't answer here:

www.reddit.com/r/asexuality/co…

Description

Love is an emotional connection. It is caring, long-lasting joy, a pure kind of positivity. It does not require attraction, or any kind of intimacy beyond the emotional kind. It's why you can genuinely love a pet, or an activity. It's why you can be in a happy, long-term relationship without what the media might push as necessary. Love is love, as much for asexuals as for everyone else.

---

Yes, pride art, just in time for the end of the month! What I want to achieve with this most (aside from expressing myself and creating some beauty in this world, as I always want to do) is to educate people, so here goes!

Asexuality is a poorly known and oftentimes misunderstood orientation, so I want to shed a little light on what it is so you can better understand and support people around you who might be asexual- perhaps even yourself.

Asexuals are also sometimes called 'aces' for short, hence the title.

What is asexuality?

Asexuality is the lack of sexual attraction towards anyone. Simple as that.

What is NOT asexuality?

It is NOT a lack of romantic attraction, that's called aromanticism. About a third of asexuals are also aromantic. The rest does experience romantic attraction.

Asexualty is also NOT a lack of libido (that's independent of attraction, although many asexuals do have little or no libido) or sexual activity (again independent of attraction, though of course asexuals tend to have less reason to do so).

Asexuality is NOT celibacy (that's experiencing attraction, but not acting on it. Asexuals don't feel the attraction in the first place).

Also, while late bloomers do exist, asexuality has nothing to do with age. Asexuals exist in their teens, in their twenties, in their sixties.

Food analogy

For a simple analogy, I like to compare it with hunger. Sometimes you may really crave pizza. That's hunger directed towards pizza. It's experiencing attraction, as it were, to pizza. In that comparison, asexuals may get hungry (though many rarely or never do), but they never crave any particular food. They can still eat, however, even if they're not hungry. There's nothing inherently harmful about eating when you're not hungry, as long as it is fully voluntary. By this analogy, many don't eat at all, and that is perfectly fine too since they don't need or want it.

How can you support asexuals?

- Get to know the definition, and don't confuse it with libido, activity, or romantic attraction.

- Don't second-guess anyone who comes out as asexual. They've in all likelihood done a lot of thinking before they arrived at that conclusion.

- Where appropriate, acknowledge that asexuality exists.

- Don't feel sorry for anyone who admits to feeling no attraction. They are perfectly capable of being happy the way they are- as long as people don't constantly push the idea that they are 'broken' onto them. They are not broken.

- They are also perfectly capable of experiencing and giving love, including, for most, the romantic kind. Don't be shocked if they have a romantic partner, and don't ask about anything highly personal unless they explicitly state that they are comfortable with that. They may be fine with sharing their asexuality, but that doesn't mean they automatically want to share all the personal details. Don't be creepy.

- Treat them as you would like to be treated. Asexual adults are no less mature than other adults.

If you would like to learn more

The asexuality subreddit has a hub with many useful links if you'd like to do some further reading or have some questions I didn't answer here:

www.reddit.com/r/asexuality/co…