Putting the A in Asexual and Aromantic and Agender
In the LGBTQ+ community, there are many people who identify as asexual (ace), aromantic (aro), and agender. In this post, we will discuss what these terms mean, when they came about, and other terms related to these. In upcoming posts, we will further discuss aspec identities as there are plenty to go over, including the various terms I identify with.
The term "asexual" originates from the field of biology, describing an organism that, exclusively or not, engages in asexual reproduction. While I am not entirely certain on when the subject of a lack of sexual attraction in humans became a mainstream subject of sexology, one of the first major pieces of academic research that posits the existence of asexuality, could be Kinsey's Scale. While Kinsey is still considered the "father of modern sexology," there are many issues with his Scale (I will likely discuss in a future post).
Asexual is defined by Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN) as, "someone who does not experience sexual attraction or an intrinsic desire to have sexual relationships (or the adjective describing a person as such)." This could manifest in multiple ways, such as a person who is ace and sex-repulsed (meaning they do not want to engage in sex of any kind/in any way), or a person who is ace and sex-favorable (meaning they do engage in sex in some kind of way). There is an entire spectrum of asexual identities (ace-spec), including some that describe when, how, or in what contexts the individual engages/does not engage in sexual behaviors. Future posts will delve into these terms.
Aromantic people are described by AVEN as, "people who don’t experience romantic attraction or desires." The earliest forum messages I could find on AVEN including the term aromantic were posted on November 7, 2004; and it seemed like multiple posters around that time were aware of the term. While an exact date of origin is likely impossible to know, it would not be surprising if the term first appeared before 2000. An aromantic person may not engage in romance or experience romantic attraction at all, or they could experience some amount of attraction or engage in romantic practices, yet not in the same way as alloromantic people (allo: opposite of aro).
Agender is not an attraction term, it is a gender identity term, and yet it is commonly related to other aspec terminology. Agender is typically thought of as a lack of gender. Whether that means gender is not a factor in one's identity, or their gender identity has been somehow removed from them, or even that there is an empty space where one would expect their gender identity to be (sometimes called gendervoid). Agender is a term under the non-binary and transgender umbrellas, and while some agender people may identify as non-binary, transgender, or both (this is me), others do not. As with almost all identities, some people may feel agender only sometimes (genderfluid/flux) and at various intensities (demigenders).
