Asexuals! Absolutely no interest in sex whatsoever.

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996533

Feature: Glad to be asexual


17:07 14 October 04

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It is an impossibly hot summer evening in St Louis, a city in the American Midwest best known for barbecues and blues music, and I’m driving around the streets of the town’s Central West End wondering if this will be known one day as the place where the revolution began.

In less than an hour I am to meet its leader, a young man whose face I have never seen though we’ve been talking for months. I know I shouldn’t be this eager to greet him in person, to finally see what he looks like, but then again it’s not every day you meet a young healthy man who is 100% uninterested in sex.

In a world where lust can be bought in a pill and skin is the marketing tool du jour, being David Jay cannot be easy. At the age of 22 he has never had sex. He has never experienced sexual attraction towards another person and does not believe it will ever happen.

There are many others who have similar stories to tell. They talk about growing up not being able to understand why everyone else seemed so interested in dating, kissing and touching; in experiencing the ritual of mating
...


I was always attracted to guys like that! Talk about a challenge.

Interesting study:


In the 1990s, however, three separate teams from the US Sheep Experiment Station in Dubois, Idaho, Oregon State University in Corvallis and the Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, tackled this question. In one study, young but sexually mature rams were put in a pen with females on 18 different occasions to assess their partner preference.

As expected, the majority of rams mated vigorously with the ewes, but around 10% did not mount the females or show any interest. Those rams were then put in a pen beside either two males or two females and behavioural tests measured the number of times the animals showed “interest” (kicks, vocalisations, sniffs, mount attempts) towards members of either sex.

Some of the rams - between 5% and 7% of the population - tried to mount, sniff and sexually interact with other rams. Intriguingly, another group - some 2% to 3% of the population - showed no interest towards either males or females. “They have no interest whatsoever in mating,” says Fredrick Stormshak from the Oregon team. “They appear to be 100% asexual.”

This asexual preference still held when the tests were performed one year later.

The only time I really think of the word "asexual" is in a reproductive sense. So, needless to say, this article got me thinking in the completely wrong direction at first.

That story made me think of Tony Curtis in Some Like it Hot, and he seemed to know what he was doing.

I think the rams and ewes thing was bad science again. In many animal groups there are dominant males and females so the lower ranked animals know not to try any sex stuff or the dominants get angry. I think the females can also show they're not currently fertile and the males stay away from them. At any rate there are plenty of explanations for abstinence other than the animals just being asexual.

At any rate there are plenty of explanations for abstinence other than the animals just being asexual.
These rams were looking for a luscious redhead and all they were offered were bimbo blonds? :)

At any rate there are plenty of explanations for abstinence other than the animals just being asexual.

Hmmm... I don't think 98% of the sheep population are alpha sheep. And I think that behavior would only apply if there were a dominant male gonna beat the crap out of them if they tupped.

Wow! Not often I get to say tupped! Tup, tup, tup, tup, tup! Take that FCC!

Mmmmm, lucsiouse redheads.

/drool

Perhaps they didn't want to do it with people watching. I'm sure the scientists didn't turn the lights out.

Lol... Darn inconsiderate scientists!

Mmmmm, lucsiouse redheads.

/drool


/agree! Had one come into work yesterday (27 although she looked like she just turned 21 at most.) and was signing up for Dial-up. Jeezus I hope she calls up and needs me to make a service call to her house. /drool x2

See! Drake09 would've tupped and he's no alpha male! :p (Just kidding)

I find this kinda interesting actually. Certain animal behaviors often can be applied towards humans. There are quite a few males out there that would literally do anything that walked, and there are those that choose abstinence or are very picky about what they are interested in. I myself if you apply the logic behind some of those tests, am just that picky. I wouldn't be the dominant male by any means, but, would prefer to work on a solid relationship before getting my swerve on. Of course, I would not be attracted to the girls that are attracted to the dominant male. They would be the town bicycle to me and therefore less challenging and less entertaining and generally someone I would get bored with rather quickly.

There are also others who would prefer to be married to their jobs, among several others in this that would explain the abstinence. As well as some just are not interested in men or women.

Did you read the article, Palamin? Those people are simple not interested in sex and don't know what the fuss is about. Some of them are interested in relationships, but not sex. It has nothing to do with sex outside of marriage or inside of marriage or being picky or not. They just don't have any sexual urges whatsoever. The word abstinence to me sort of implies you are abstaining from doing something you want to do rather than not doing something you don't want to do.

I think I'll abstain from purposefully poking myself with a pin.

I'm not that far off either. Sure I think about it and am attracted to women, but maybe it's cos I'm a virgin (wooo confession time *ducks the mob*) I don't care about it anywhere near as much as others seem to. Most of the time I'm as indifferent to the subject as a faydark bat to the meaning of life.

Btw I'm 22 like the guy in the story. Creepy eh.

Naw that's not creepy at all... atleast I hope not.

Yes, I read the article. I have some of the same tendencies that guy shows. Except I am interested in women and have sexual urges. For the most part I would rather watch a movie, or read a book. I find those more interesting and more enjoyable. I get innuendo and stuff like that and find the humor in it, I just do not see the need to get married and stuff right away like others do. Often, I wonder about others and their decisions to I have to have somebody right now..... and they end up treating them like crap, and yet they continually do the same behaviors. I think that mainly it is crazy what people do to each other in relationships, that are intentionally hurtful, spiteful, among others. My guess would be people are often just looking for a friend for their love interest to help pass loneliness or whatever reason and often just rush it before they really get to know the person.

In the last 3 years or so, I have been interested in 4 people dating/and or sexually. That is not very many for a 25 year old man, not married, but engaged several times. My engagements were mainly because some woman was trying to rush me off to get married then, realized I really was not interested in that stuff that much and would rather prefer a friend than a spouse, afterall things change dramatically when someone gets married or a very serious relationship. I guess mainly I have things to do first before I really would like to settle down, and those things do not involve sex among other things.

Pala, I wouldn't classify you as asexual. There's a whole continuum of sexuality, something lots of people just don't understand, and we don't all neatly fit in one category or another.

I would have to agree with you there Panamah. Sexuality is one of the hardest things to classify. Some like whips and chains, others prefer monogamous relationships, others prefer multiple at the same time partners, Some prefer animals. So really nothing really surprises me anymore about weird things I hear in the news and stuff. Another area to look into that would fit the no sexual interest catergory would be the catholic church, namely the priests and nuns. Many of them fall into the no preference, as well as the attracted to the opposite sex/ same sex and suppress those feelings, among others.

And when you get bored with the myriad of human sexuality all you have to do is go look at the animal kingdom for awhile and realize humans don't have a monopoly on kinky. Naked (wuwu!) Mole rats and Bonobo monkies being some of the oddest ones, and then you see pictures of cats piled 3 deep on each other, dogs humping your leg, sniffing your crotch... I am in awe of this urge that is so powerful, in most creatures, that seem to disregard any sort of abritrary rules humans put on sexuality. And now we know that sex chromosones are extremely varied. Wasn't it recent that the platypus's sex chromosones were discovered to be very complex, some combination of 10 X's and Y's.

I think I'd disagree with you about the catholic church though. I bet there's a hell of a lot of sex going on amongst those so-called celibates, and not all of it among alter boys.

Also think about the what a difference hormone levels can make. They often give testosterone to both men and women to raise their libido.

I am in awe of this urge that is so powerful, in most creatures, that seem to disregard any sort of abritrary rules humans put on sexuality.I suppose a "no holds barred" approach would work to an extent in a paper pushing office, but heaven help the heavy machine operators and anyone around if a female in season were to pass by. On the other hand, it might take the "rage" out of road rage while throwing up a new obstacle to rush hour traffic. :biggrin:

But I always thought asexuals were called "married".

But I always thought asexuals were called "married".

*SNORT* Oh, good one!

And when you get bored with the myriad of human sexuality all you have to do is go look at the animal kingdom for awhile ....

Right after I read this part (before I went any farther) I thought you were recommeding bestiality.