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Asexuality Is Finally Breaking Free from Medical Stigma (www.scientificamerican.com)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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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

…

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.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (9 children)

It's probably just an issue with oxytocin.

It does a lot of stuff, but what's important here is it's about social bonding. When it's not functioning correctly, you just never get lonely, you don't have the negatives from lack of social relationships including romantic.

Also, it's what make orgasms feel amazing. So without it, your getting rid of the two main positives for sexual relationships.

You might still enjoy the act of sex, you just don't get the huge addicting high at the end of it.

So it's at most a "sure, why not" thing compared to everyone else. And for some people, it's just not worth the hassle to varying degrees.

We also haven't identified any genetic markers, but there's likely some out there. And there's environmental issues when young that can effect it your whole life.

So we barely understand the "nurture" component and no idea about the "nature" side of things.

Edit:

Rather than keep responding to the same comments, please just scroll down for more information before replying.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Hey there chief, got any sources for your comment? Like any kind of peer reviewed references to the links between oxytocin and loneliness, romantic relationships and orgasm? Would be interesting to read.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You'd be better off with general academic articles or even just the Wikipedia for it if you don't know anything about oxytocin yet

But here you go:

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2020-48708-003

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22281209/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3183515/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8009111/

Unless you have a background in medicine/psychology it'll probably be over your head. But if your familiar with any type of research you can probably manage.

I'd start with something this tho

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxytocin

[–] [email protected] 20 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Thanks, that was actually really interesting and I learnt stuff I didn't know beforehand. The thing is your comment seemed to trigger quite a few people (me included) because it seemed insensitive. Thankfully you later commented that "For some people (like all the ones in the article) they want it fixed. Others are perfectly happy the way they are, and both are fine and none of anyone else’s business" so you obviously get it. It's funny how easy it is for people to misunderstand each other in forums like this. This has been a learning experience for me.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 10 months ago

No worries.

Came here from /all like most people probably did. I was used to /science on Reddit where most people have a scientific background.

So my comment assumed familiarity with all the basic stuff. And yeah, science wise you have to be a little insensitive talking about this stuff, but most of the time it's described as "clinical" instead.

Which has not worked out well from all the replies I got lol.

I just didn't know the tone of this community

[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I mean it's generally bad form to attempt to explain why someone is of a particular orientation. You don't say "well you're only gay because you have trauma," because that's fucked up and overtly reductive of a key aspect of their personality.

I don't experience sexual attraction. I still get horny. Orgasms feel great. I get lonely all the time, and still need social interaction. My experience is far from unique amongst asexual people. I don't think it's as simple as a single chemical imbalance.

At the same time, I am scientifically-minded, and understand that my mind arises as a product of the processes of my brain and body. I don't disagree that hormones play as a factor in my orientation, but not everyone in the ace community shares that sentiment, and of course having your orientation chalked up to a specific medical or phychological "quirk" generally feels bad.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

If you dont mind me asking what is the difference between sexual attraction and being horny?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Sexual attraction requires a object of attraction, usually a person who you feel the urge to have sex with. Arousal isn't directed.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

So does arousal have no trigger in your case¿? Is morning wood an example of such arousal where it is not directed¿?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Basically. Sometimes I just realize I'm horny. If the situation allows, I may go deal with it. I'm sure there have been times where a stimulus of a sexual nature produced an arousal response in me, but never from a desire for intercourse with the object of the stimulus.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Thanks for indulging my curiosity.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

No problem. As an aside, and just so you know, my experience may not be unique, but it also does not describe that of all asexual people. There is a WHOLE lot of variation.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 10 months ago

Solid

[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago

wow I didn't know being Ace made me immune to lonliness I guess all those days where I felt the complete emptiness from having a lack of relationship was just me being goofy :p

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You've got to be careful how you're referring to it. Asexual is not the same thing as aromantic. Confusing the two causes people to misunderstand both.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

But neither are binary things... People can be asexual and/or aromantic in lots of different ways to various degrees.

And both are related to oxytocin. Either production or uptake, maybe both.

No two people are exactly the same.

Everyone is so hung up on labels, if this wasn't a sub literally called c/science, I would have put all the disclaimers in there. But I assumed people on here wouldn't need it, and understood this stuff is always a scale.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

When it’s not functioning correctly

Not functioning in the same way as the majority of people does not mean it is not functioning correctly.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

TLDR: the language used to talk about science isn't the same as common day to day language.

Long explanation:

It's a neurotransmitter...

It exists to do something.

If for one reason or another that's not happening, or just too much or too less, then the biological process is not functioning correctly.

We're not talking about if that's a good or bad thing.

Like, I don't have a specific liver enzyme that breaks opioids down into active metabolites. It's nonfunctioning.

But that's a good thing, because the trade off to common opioids not working, is better to me than the opposite where I'm incredibly likely to get addictied from metabolizing too fast.

If oxytocin isn't able to work, then something in the process isn't functioning correctly. That's not a judgement on what's normal or best. It's a factual statement about a biological process. One part might not work at all, both parts might not, or you might just be on different ends of a couple different scales.

Or like pheromones. Humans can produce very small amounts, we just don't have the organ to pick it up. It's a system where it's 100% for it to be non functional.

That's kind of how evolution ebbs and flows. Sometimes stuff just stops working if there's no pressure for it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Its not a problem though

[–] [email protected] 24 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Sure...

Anytime you're taking about neurotransmitters or hormones, there's not really a "right" or "wrong".

Just natural human variation. And there's a shit ton of human variation.

They actually make oxytocin nasal spray now. But if someone is happy with who they are, it's not like they have to take it. I don't know of any studies where it's used with asexuality though, I think just autism.

For some people (like all the ones in the article) they want it fixed. Others are perfectly happy the way they are, and both are fine and none of anyone else's business

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

There are lots of asexuals who can orgasm just fine and feel amazing after just like anyone else, and who can be lonely. You know sex isn't the only form of social bonding right? Asexuals are perfectly capable of forming social relationships, including romantic ones since being asexual and aromantic aren't the same thing. This comment is so off base it's frankly a bit ridiculous, you clearly have no idea how asexuality works so maybe you shouldn't make sweeping assumptions about it.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Who taught all you people that neurotransmitters were binary?

It's starting to get concerning...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

You certainly talk about them like they're binary. You talk like someone who doesn't actually know anything about asexual people, and I say that as someone who is asexual myself. Imagine if someone tried to narrow down being gay or bi to a single chemical, it's ridiculous.

[+] [email protected] -14 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 10 months ago (1 children)

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?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

It's literally the intro and conclusion of the article...

In graduate school people often asked Megan Carroll whether she was gay. Her sociology dissertation was on inequalities within communities of gay fathers, so her research participants were curious about how she identified. “I would say, ‘Oh, I'm maybe mostly straight? I don't really know. It's complicated.’” It was, at the time, the closest she could get to the truth. She'd had crushes on both boys and girls in high school and had been in a relationship with a man; being around her romantic interests sent her heart fluttering in her chest. But nothing like that happened when she considered having sex with any of them—she simply wasn't interested. Her friends assured her she just needed to meet the right person, someone who would light her fire.

When that hadn't happened by the time she was 18, Carroll thought she might simply have a low libido and went looking for an explanation. Thinking her birth control might be to blame, she spoke with a nurse, who suggested that perhaps her boyfriend was “just a bad lover.” Then Carroll wondered whether it was the pills she was taking to treat her depression. Over the next 12 years she visited multiple therapists, psychiatrists and physicians and tried different antidepressants—including a less commonly prescribed drug that gave her tachycardia, or a faster heart rate. Eventually she settled on one that had shown no measurable effect on sex drive in clinical trials.

Conclusion:

It's not just young people who are coming around. When Carroll lectures about asexuality, she often tells a story about her mother, Laura Vogel, a licensed professional counselor who specializes in recovery from sexual trauma. Vogel knew traumatic experiences could decrease someone's desire for sex, but for a long time she didn't know that asexuality could be something entirely separate from that. When Carroll came out as asexual to her mother in 2017, Vogel began reading up on the subject and realized how her lack of awareness might have affected her clients. “That was a learning period for me,” Vogel told me recently. Since then, if a client expresses little to no desire to have sex, she sends them home with resources about asexuality to see whether it resonates.

“If a therapist had done what my mom now does ... it's hard to describe what that would have meant for me personally,” Carroll says. “That awareness can save asexual people years and years of uncertainty.”

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...

[–] [email protected] -1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Her friends assured her she just needed to meet the right person, someone who would light her fire. When that hadn’t happened by the time she was 18, Carroll thought she might simply have a low libido and went looking for an explanation.

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?

Thinking her birth control might be to blame, she spoke with a nurse, who suggested that perhaps her boyfriend was “just a bad lover.”

Would the nurse say that to a woman who said she was gay?

Then Carroll wondered whether it was the pills she was taking to treat her depression. Over the next 12 years she visited multiple therapists, psychiatrists and physicians and tried different antidepressants—including a less commonly prescribed drug that gave her tachycardia, or a faster heart rate.

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:

“If a therapist had done what my mom now does … it’s hard to describe what that would have meant for me personally,” Carroll says. “That awareness can save asexual people years and years of uncertainty.”

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.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

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?

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

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (2 children)

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?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

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.