So, I wonder how that works… Is it then the case that asexual people typically have some level of physical attraction to other people, thus allowing them to know whether they would be heterosexual or homosexual, but the level of attraction is weak to the point that they would not then actually be interested in having sex with someone they are attracted to, hence the asexuality?
I think that’s a good way of putting it. I do find some people physically attractive, but the sexual attraction is either very weak or nonexistant.
Musician Emilie Autumn used to identify as asexual and was mentioned & tagged as such on her wikipedia page. Looking at her words it seems she just had trouble enjoying sex rather than not being sexually attracted to anyone. Her wikipedia page was changed to reflect this although she still has the ‘asexual women’ tag at the bottom of her page.
Sounds pretty fortunate to me. If they have no interest in sex, that saves a lot of anguish and time to pursue other things.
If you have no interest in something, you aren’t exactly “missing out.”
With most things, I’d agree, as there’s usually some other equivalent. But with sex (or, at least, orgasm), there’s really not. So if you don’t like sex, you may be “missing out” on type of pleasure you just will not be able to experience.
Another example would be someone who was completely colorblind. I would say they were missing out on a certain level of experience, even if they have no desire to see in color.
Relatedly, has a celebrity ever been outed as asexual?
A colorblind person doesn’t know they’re missing out on anything until other people bring it their attention.
Seriously, the only time I feel bad about my lack of sexuality is when people insist that I should feel bad. And it’s not really sadness I feel as much as plain resentment over the fact that my life should be seen as pathetic, no matter how many cool experiences I have and no matter how content I tell people I am.
Actually Poundstone herself went into some detail about what occurred. She adopted a young girl who had a number of mental and emotional issues and who was acting out because she wanted to return to her biological family instead of staying in Poundstone’s care. The case was dropped when the girl admitted that she had fabricated her story and why she had done so. It’s really sort of a sad case as the girl (now an adult) has apparently a number of run-ins with law enforcement and issues with substance abuse.
I’m by no means a fan of Paula Poundstone. I never thought that she was very funny. I can however, see where her inability to form a substantial personal relationship (or relationships) and adopt children with a partner, might have come back to “bite” her later in life.
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