Understanding Asexuality

In this chapter we discussed the A (attraction and arousal), B (behavior), C (cognition), and Ds (desire) of sex. We also mentioned two miscellaneous factors: identity and pleasure. (I realize that by including I and P, I have ruined the alphabetical simplicity of my chapter title!) These are the key psychological processes of sexuality. They also help us to understand asexuality. Indeed, perhaps some asexual people are devoid of all these factors; that is, they lack sexual attraction, arousal, behavior, cognitions (e.g., fantasies), desire, and pleasure, and they also identify as “asexual.” But one of these—lack of sexual attraction—may be a core psychological factor among asexual people and may best define the phenomenon, from both a theoretical and a research perspective. Lack of sexual attraction is at least potentially independent of these other processes, and it is noteworthy that those who lack sexual attraction may not lack these other processes (e.g., desire, arousal). Also, at this point, although lack of sexual attraction seems like a reasonable definition for understanding asexuality, the phenomenon is likely diverse, so it is important to keep in mind that this is a working definition and open to change. Thus, although I give some priority in this book, as I have in my past publications, to defining asexuality as a lack of sexual attraction, I think it is also reasonable to be sensitive to different definitions of asexuality (including a lack of desire for all sexual activities) and self-definitions. Another reason for being open to different definitions is that research on asexuality is just beginning.

CHAPTER 3 History

The story of life begins asexually, and for most of Earth’s natural history (about two-thirds of it), asexual reproduction has predominated (Cowen, 2005). It has only been in the last twelve hundred million years, out of the thirty-eight hundred million years that life has existed on Earth, that sexual reproduction has flourished—a mere fraction of geological time. Now it is the predominant form of reproduction for species on Earth.

The exact date of the emergence of sex—call it, ahem, the little bang theory—is a bit in question, however. Twelve hundred million years is a ballpark figure, give or take a few hundred million years. The first sex likely occurred in simple organisms, eukaryotes (Cowen, 2005). Eukaryotes are simple single- and multicell organisms, although they are more complex than the first single-cell organisms that predominated for about 2.5 billion years. Eukaryotes owe their complexity to sophisticated structures that the first forms of planetary life did not have, such as nuclei.

There are also other important dates in the evolution of sex beyond its first appearance. A second milestone in the natural history of sex was when this form of reproduction first occurred in the genealogical line leading to modern animals, perhaps about five hundred million years ago. This prize may belong to a worm-like creature called Funisia, the fossilized remains of which were originally found in Australia (Droser & Gehling, 2008). A third milestone was reached when the first “penetrative” sex appeared, around three hundred million years ago in a species of fish. These fossils were also originally found in Australia (Long, Trinajstic, & Johanson, 2009). Evidently, this fish’s pelvic fin was used in penetration during copulation.

Note that not all sex involves penetration/copulation, as the definition of sexual reproduction is the combination of genetic material from two parents to form offspring. Sexual reproduction involves two processes: meiosis, the splitting in half of the parents’ complement of genes, and fertilization, the recombination of genes by the melding of the parents’ gametes (i.e., sperm and egg). Fertilization can be done in a variety of ways, one of which is internal, making penetration a common technique, but there are other ways of achieving this outcome.

It might be asked: If asexual reproduction was the way it all began, why is sex even here? This is an especially pertinent question, given that sex is a complex and costly way of reproducing one’s genes. For example, there is considerable time and risk involved when it comes to finding a mate. Moreover, only 50 percent of an organism’s (unique) genes are replicated in traditional sexual reproduction, versus 100 percent in asexual reproduction.