ABSTRACT
When an aspect of identity is socially stigmatized, there is powerful incentive to hide it in order to maintain valued social connections. Asexuality is a prime example of the creation of an identity that de-stigmatizes something formerly considered a ‘disorder.’ Interestingly, biologists have long known that asexuality occurs with regularity in the animal kingdom. Many asexual people are in relationships, and some are in relationships with sexual people. Asexual people can be romantically attracted to other people. Indeed, many if not most experience these attractions, but without a sexual component, and many ‘aces,’ as they call themselves, define a sexual orientation for themselves based on their romantic attractions. Some asexual people identify as aromantic as well, meaning that they do not experience romantic attractions either. A 2008 survey found that only 17.5 percent of respondents classified themselves as aromantic (‘aros’); 31.4 percent were hetero-romantic, 6.5 percent homo-erotic, and the rest held some kind of bi or pan romantic identity.
