A Life Without Sex: The Third Phase of the Asexuality Movement

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Asexual is not a mental illness, and the very fact that you would go there is emblematic of the way asexuals are excluded, rendered invisible, and otherwise marginalized by sexuals.

No, I didn't exclude them.  Sick people are very much 'with us', and can be quite visible as long as they're ambulatory or functional - in point of fact when they go on killing sprees they become quite the center of attention. 

True, they're 'on the margin', but after all, isn't it true that the vast majority of people have a working gonad and a brain connected to it?

Why would that entail sickness on the part of the minority? It's an entirely benign sickness at worse, and hence not in the conventional sense a sickness at all.

Benign? A life without sexual compulsions is missing a very necessary ingredient that drives intimate relationships. Legitimate asexuality presumably has pretty negative psychological consequences that cause you to be on the margins of society and never reaching full self-actualization.

I couldn't imagine living without a sexual drive. Maybe in some ways it could be beneficial but it's too foreign a concept for me and it's at the center of the human experience.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Asexual is not a mental illness, and the very fact that you would go there is emblematic of the way asexuals are excluded, rendered invisible, and otherwise marginalized by sexuals.

No, I didn't exclude them.  Sick people are very much 'with us', and can be quite visible as long as they're ambulatory or functional - in point of fact when they go on killing sprees they become quite the center of attention. 

True, they're 'on the margin', but after all, isn't it true that the vast majority of people have a working gonad and a brain connected to it?

Do you consider homosexuals to be mentally ill as well?  Both are sexual minorities who deviate from the "mainstream".  What's the difference?

There's a big difference between having a different sexual preference and not having one at all.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Asexual is not a mental illness, and the very fact that you would go there is emblematic of the way asexuals are excluded, rendered invisible, and otherwise marginalized by sexuals.

No, I didn't exclude them.  Sick people are very much 'with us', and can be quite visible as long as they're ambulatory or functional - in point of fact when they go on killing sprees they become quite the center of attention.  

True, they're 'on the margin', but after all, isn't it true that the vast majority of people have a working gonad and a brain connected to it?

Why would that entail sickness on the part of the minority? It's an entirely benign sickness at worse, and hence not in the conventional sense a sickness at all.

Benign? A life without sexual compulsions is missing a very necessary ingredient that drives intimate relationships. Legitimate asexuality presumably has pretty negative psychological consequences that cause you to be on the margins of society and never reaching full self-actualization.

I couldn't imagine living without a sexual drive. Maybe in some ways it could be beneficial but it's too foreign a concept for me and it's at the center of the human experience.

What about procreating, raising children, etc?

Just because you can't imagine a lifestyle doesn't make it justified to condemn it.

That's fair but I see there being significant difficulties finding a partner who simply wants to raise children and has only a romantic interest. I see that being tough to overcome.

That's fair. I wasn't trying to condemn it so much as I wanted to say that asexuality seems detrimental psychologically as long as society isn't understanding of it. I'd say the same of homosexuality.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

@Nathan - Could you explain why so that I can further understand asexuality?