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- cross-posted to:
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New research on asexuality shows why it’s so important for doctors and therapists to distinguish between episodes of low libido and a consistent lack of sexual attraction
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Over the past two decades psychological studies have shown that asexuality should be classified not as a disorder but as a stable sexual orientation akin to homosexuality or heterosexuality. Both cultural awareness and clinical medicine have been slow to catch on. It’s only recently that academic researchers have begun to look at asexuality not as an indicator of health problems but as a legitimate, underexplored way of being human.
In biology, the word “asexual” typically gets used in reference to species that reproduce without sex, such as bacteria and aphids. But in some species that do require mating to have offspring, such as sheep and rodents, scientists have observed individuals that don’t appear driven to engage in the act.
Incorrect. It’s not a disorder or dysfunction. It’s a sexual attraction type just like gay or straight, and I would appreciate some respect, instead of this archaic “you’re just sick”
As someone who is Asexual and been in relationships, I’ve still not had sexual attraction to my partners, and still had oxytocin highs.
Instead of getting offended and thinking it’s a binary thing and everyone is either asexual or not:
Remember that any time someone talks about hormones or neurotransmitters, there is no “right” just “average”.
And the most unique human on the planet would be the hypothetical person who is dead smack on the “average” for the 100s of different ones.
Pointing out what causes differences isn’t the same as saying we need to get everyone in the average.
Hell, the entire article is about asexual people wanting to know the “why”…
Did you even read it yet?
On the contrary, the article listed in the OP is about people experiencing medical discrimination due to a lack of awareness that asexuality can be a valid orientation. The asexual people quoted in their personal anecdotes about their medical care were reporting that medical and psychiatric professionals continually misdiagnosed or gave erroneous treatment based on assumptions around what “healthy” sexual desire looks like.
Essentially, imagine someone posted an article talking about how medical professionals are finally recognizing being gay isn’t a medical issue that needs to be “fixed”, and then you respond saying what the physiological causes of being gay could be. You’re getting kick back because it’s at best pretty tone deaf, no matter whether it’s backed up with evidence or not.
It’s literally the intro and conclusion of the article…
Conclusion:
It’s hard for anyone to understand why something happens when you respond to people talking about why it’s happening by plugging your ears and yelling.
You might not care about why, but lots of people do. Why get in the way of that?
The whole reason there’s medical discrimination, is because medical professionals think it’s due to past trauma.
Talking about what may actually cause it, fixes that problem.
You’re complaining about a valid issue, it’s just you’re also complaining about the people trying to fix it mate…
Do you think she would have sought out medical advice if she wasn’t under social pressure to be sexual, or was aware asexuality existed?
Would the nurse say that to a woman who said she was gay?
The medical professionals she saw were not aware asexuality was a thing and so she received erroneous and subpar treatment. This article is not about an asexual person’s journey to find out why they are the way they are or something like that. It’s very clearly about fighting discrimination. As you quoted:
As someone who is demi I experienced a lot of social pressure around sex and sexuality and experienced the same kind of doubts about myself that a gay person might have 40 years ago. Again, if you came into a thread about medical professionals finally not treating gay people like they are mentally ill with explanations of how people are/become gay, you’d look like an asshole, regardless of if you were right or not.
Sounds like you agree with me that talking about why people are different and that variation is 100% normal would be beneficial
Not sure why you’re so upset that we agree, but I don’t think I’m going to keep responding
In your view, are there any disorders or dysfunctions of the mind left in the world? Is feeling comfortable with crucial differences between what is considered a healthy body and what is not, a good reason to stop calling it a disorder?
That’s a good question. I believe if a mental, physical, or psychological trait hinders your QOL or impedes your ability to perform basic tasks, it qualifies as a disorder or dysfunction.
I think everyone has traits that make them lean towards dysfunction, but they are manageable, tolerable, or not seen as abnormal.
Most Deaf people don’t see their deafness as a handicap or dysfunction. While some hearing folks might think “they’re missing out on so much” it can’t be further from the truth.
This was the first time I saw Asexuality mentioned on a major community, so I was happy to see the spread of awareness, then the first comment was along the lines of “it’s probably a mental disorder”. To me, that sounds anti-LGBT.
One of the main criteria of a “disorder”, as per psychiatrists making a diagnosis via the DSM, is that it causes significant disruption in one’s life, and distress or dysfunction. Asexual and demi people can be perfectly happy being the way they are and experience no distress about a lack of attraction beyond feeling confused or different. In contrast, I doubt many people with OCD are happy being stuck turning a light switch on and off for an hour because their brain tells them they aren’t doing it the “right” way.