Thanks to my friend Jane for telling me about a fascinating
series of articles by Dominique Mosbergen on the Huffington Post's
Gay Voices blog on the topic of asexuality. I knew what the word meant, of course, but I'd only ever read or heard it used in a pejorative way—referring to a person who for some psychologically problematic reason, did not feel sexual desire. But over the past decade, a group of men and women have begun to argue that asexuality is not always a sign of sexual disorder. Like homosexuality, bisexuality, and other sexual orientations that fall outside the sexual mainstream, asexuality should be regarded as an "intrinsic part" of a person's identity rather than a medical condition that needs to be fixed. Sexologist and professor Anthony Bogaert's research suggests that approximately 1% of England's population is asexual, a figure others have applied to the global population.
AVEN (The Asexuality Visibility and Education Network) was founded in 2001 to create public acceptance and discussion of asexuality, and to facilitate the growth of the asexual community.
Bogaert suggests that the "ace" (short for asexual) identity helps us see how often society links romance and sex, a conflation that in the case of the asexual simply does not happen. Some asexuals desire a romantic relationship with another; others do not. Or some do not experience sexual desire until they've forged a strong emotional (and often romantic) connection with a specific person.
Today's romance novels typically couple sex and romance. Growing sexual attraction leads to growing emotional connection. Would it be possible in this day and age to envision an asexual romance novel? What would it look like? Could you argue that the traditional Regency romance can function as an asexual romance? What would a contemporary asexual romance look like?
