Asexuality is the absence of sexual desire. It can be considered as a sexual orientation and is thought to affect around 1% of the population.

Asexuality means that one does not feel sexual attraction towards other people, regardless of their gender. It is not a choice, like being heterosexual or homosexual. It differs in this from abstinence. Asexual people are not asexual (absence of genitals). 

It has been characterized in the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) as a hypoactive sexual desire disorder.

Asexuality concerns about 1% of the population, all genders and origins combined. (Source: Antony Bogaert study, 2004). It is possible that the number of asexual staff is underestimated. Asexual people have nicknamed themselves the Aces. 

The diagnosis of asexuality is a diagnosis of elimination. Asexuality is not a dislike of sex, it is a disinterest. It is also not the physical impossibility of having sex, nor a choice or impossibility of having romantic relationships. 

The cause of asexuality is not known. No study has shown that asexuality is linked to insufficient libido or hormonal imbalance. Most asexual people think they were born like this. Since 2001, there is a community on the Internet which seeks among other things to modify the Statistical and Diagnostic Manual of mental disorders (the DSM) which describes asexuality as a pathology. Psychologists and sociologists are in tune with this claim and believe that asexuality should be considered as a sexual orientation. 

Being asexual does not mean living without feelings or even for some not having a sex life, for example in the context of a romantic relationship with a sexual person (to please their partner, to have children). Asexual people can have fun having sex, it’s just that they don’t initiate sex because they don’t have a desire for sex. 

Finding out that you are asexual can be difficult, especially in a world in which sex is ubiquitous. It can then be important to see that you are not alone (alone). 

In France, the Association for Asexual Visibility (AVA) offers a website with information on asexuality (http://www.asexualite.org) and testimonials. It is also possible to consult the AVEN France exchange forum (http://www.asexaulity.org/fr/forum).