a blog thinger.

still reading Understanding Asexuality by Anthony Bogaert.

fwiw, i’ve never read anything else he’s written and my (very casual!) studies of sexuality happened long ago. but jesus lord, this man’s grasp of female sexuality seems highly suspect to me. “studies show that women masturbate less than men. this is obviously biological!” yes, because society isn’t MUCH MORE OPEN to male sexuality.

he also says that 13% of people who identify as asexual don’t identify as male or female, as opposed to 2% of the general population. his conclusion is that “a nontraditional gender identity is likely significantly related to asexuality.” things he does not mention: the asexual community is extremely open about discussing other gender/sexual/romantic identities; people who are confused about their gender/sexual/romantic identities will often list nothing or refuse to choose; identifying as asexual takes a bit more work/research than other sexual identities since it’s very rarely offered as a choice, so i think it’s probable that people who identify as asexual are more comfortable adopting other less publicized (for lack of a better term) identities.

(i don’t doubt the numbers, but i DO doubt the motives he assigns them. and again, this is my opinion. i am not a scientist. this is all based on my personal experiences both coming to terms with my own sexuality and in the asexual community. the more i read, the more i am disappointed by this book. i’m still happy the library bought it though.)