NewScientist.Com Report: Glad to be Asexual

NewScientist.Com has a very interesting article on asexuality, which I couldn't resist including here :)...I've only taken some portions of the article and pasted them here, as I don't think I'm supposed to rip off everything I find interesting...LOL...

In a world where lust can be bought in a pill and skin is the marketing tool dujour, being David Jay cannot be easy. At the age of 22 he has never had sex. He has never experienced sexual attraction towards another person and does not believe it will ever happen.
There are many others who have similar stories to tell. They talk about growing up not being able to understand why everyoneelse seemed so interested in dating, kissing and touching; in experiencing the ritual of mating.

Mr Jay sure seems to be an asexual icon! They're definitely right about the "not being able to understand" part...I've gone through those periods of confusion and self doubt too...:(...Anyway...Lets not make it too dull with my asexy experiences...LOL...Here's more from the same article:

The amazing degree of variation in the experiences of asexual people suggests that the underlying causes of their lack of sexual attraction are very different. Some asexuals might simply have extremely low sex drives in spite of an innate orientation towards males or females. Other asexuals might form a fourth category of sexual orientation in addition to the hetero-, homo- and bi-sexual ones, namely people who are attracted to neither gender, even if they have normal sex drives. There is no official definition for asexuality yet, but it probably needs to take all these variations into account, says Anthony Bogaert, a psychologist and human-sexuality expert studying asexuality at Brock University in St. Catherines, Canada. “The place where we draw the line is the desire to interact sexually with other people,” says Brian (name changed), a navy veteran from Virginia. When it comes to having children, some asexuals say they would like to have a baby, but most would use IVF to avoid having to have sex. Much of the sense of community that emerges when Brian and others talk
about their collective status as asexuals comes from the fact that they have
found a virtual neighbourhood where they constantly interact. “It’s made it a
whole lot easier for us to find each other,” Brian says. One such web forum, called AVEN (for Asexual Visibility and Education Network at www.asexuality.org) was founded by Jay in 2001 and provides extensive information about asexuality along with discussion forums. It began with fewer than 50 members but now boasts more than 1200. People from all over the world have visited the site: from Saudi Arabia, Japan and Cuba.

Yup...We are definitely quite diverse...its almost like human sexuality can be divided into two subheadings - sexual and asexual, with their various orientations (hetero, homo, bi etc) under each subheading...Hmmm...That was quite "mature" of me, wasn't it? ;)

One example of that transformation is the fact that people are coming out of the closet. “I was so excited about finally discovering myself that I just went out and told a few of my friends and it kind of spread,” says Pete. By finding this positive identity and being open to loved ones about it, some asexuals, like 23-year-old Esther Dail from Colorado have even been able to fill “traditional” societal roles by getting married to sexual partners. “He doesn’t push me,” says Dail of her husband, with whom she doesn’t have intercourse and whom she told about her asexuality when they were dating.

Hmmm...I came out of my closet recently (3rd November, 2006, to my mom :)..)...and it has been a greate experience since then! She accepted my asexuality totally! I did get the "you haven't met the right person" stuff, but hey, atleast she has no problems with it. And maybe I really have not met the right person...And the right one for me has to be an asexual like myself ;)...OK...I've blabbered about myself a lot in this post...You can view the complete article (without the nonsense that I've put in the middle here) at:
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6533