No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
At the Intersection of Polyamory and Asexuality
Abstract
People have practiced some form of non-monogamy for as long as humans have existed, with non-monogamous relationships structured a multitude of different ways from then until now. Only in the past thirty years, however, was the term polyamory coined and a community formed around this particular identity. Likewise, humans have always had a wide variety of individual experiences of sexual attraction, yet the community of self-identified asexuals came together only in the past two decades. In this short time, it seems that polyamory grew particularly popular among asexuals.
... With regard to identity, asexual communities often make a distinction between sexual and romantic attraction, sometimes conceptualizing these attractions as two different kinds of orientation. Romantic attractions are described with terms like heteroromantic, homoromantic, and biromantic (Copulsky, 2019) or broader labels like straight, gay, lesbian, and bi (Chasin, 2015). Thus, someone might say that their sexual orientation is demisexual and that their romantic orientation is biromantic. ...
As identities within the ace spectrum gain greater visibility in describing those who experience limited or no sexual attraction, it is vital to understand points of commonality and distinction among individuals who identify as asexual, graysexual, and demisexual. Among respondents to the Ace Community Survey, a large international sample of individuals who identify on the ace spectrum, we found that those who identified as asexual (n = 9,476, Mage = 22.3, 61.0% female, 12.5% male), graysexual (n = 1,698, Mage = 24.2, 58.8% female, 16.5% male), or demisexual (n = 1,442, Mage = 24.2, 62.8% female, 12.6% male) varied in indicators related to sexual desire, behavior, and identity. Asexual individuals were the least likely to be in a relationship, experience romantic attraction, or identify with orientation labels signifying genders of attraction such as straight, bisexual, heteroromantic, and biromantic. Asexual individuals were the most likely to identify as aromantic, graysexual individuals the most likely to identify as grayromantic, and demisexual individuals the most likely to identify as demiromantic. Asexual individuals also scored the lowest on measures of sex drive, personal disposition toward engaging in sex, and masturbation frequency, with graysexual individuals scoring lower than demisexual individuals on the first two.
Over the past two decades, a broad community has come together around the asexual identity. While asexuality generally describes a sexual orientation in which a person does not experience sexual attraction toward anyone, specific experiences of asexual people vary considerably, and related identities are often considered part of the asexual spectrum or “ace” community. Some members of the ace community also identify as polyamorous, participating in multiple romantic or intimate relationships that are not necessarily sexual. This article draws heavily on the personal narratives of asexual individuals to explore this intersection and focuses on ways in which polyamory can be particularly challenging or beneficial for those in the asexual community. (DOI: 10.51681/1.213)
This book reports on Dr. Elisabeth Sheff's 15-year study of polyamorous families with children.
Text of the 2017 Survey
Ace Community Census Survey Team. (2017). Text of the 2017 Survey. Retrieved from
https://asexualcensus.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/2017rawtext.pdf
The Big, Fat Polyamorous Asexual Post. Retrieved from thethinkingasexual
- M Crosswell
Crosswell, M. (2013, November 3). The Big, Fat Polyamorous Asexual Post. Retrieved from
thethinkingasexual.wordpress.com/2013/11/02/the-big-fat-polyamorous-asexualpost/
Asexuality and the Health Professional
- J Decker
Decker, J. (2015, January 15). Asexuality and the Health Professional. Retrieved from
www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-invisible-orientation/201501/asexuality-a
nd-the-health-professional
Asexuality: The history of a definition
- A C Hinderliter
Hinderliter, A. C. (2009). Asexuality: The history of a definition. Retrieved from
asexualexplorations.net/home/history_of_definition.html
New Sexual Revolution: Polyamory May Be Good for You
- S Pappas
Pappas, S. (2013, February 14). New Sexual Revolution: Polyamory May Be Good for You.
Retrieved
from
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-sexual-revolution-polyamory/
Sex at dawn: The prehistoric origins of modern sexuality
- C Ryan
- C Jethá
Ryan, C., & Jethá, C. (2010). Sex at dawn: The prehistoric origins of modern sexuality. New
York: Harper. (1-2).
Asexual relationships: What does asexuality have to do with polyamory? Understanding non-monogamies
- K S Scherrer
Scherrer, K. S. (2010). Asexual relationships: What does asexuality have to do with
polyamory? Understanding non-monogamies, 154-159. London: Routledge.
How Many Polyamorists Are There in the
- E Sheff
Sheff, E. (2014, May 9). How Many Polyamorists Are There in the U.S.? Retrieved from
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-polyamorists-next-door/201405/ho
w-many-polyamorists-are-there-in-the-us