Gray asexuality

Gray asexuality or gray-sexuality (sometimes spelled grey) is the spectrum between asexuality and sexuality.[1] Individuals who identify with gray asexuality are referred to as being gray-A, a grace or a gray ace, and make up what is referred to as the "ace umbrella".[2] Within this spectrum includes terms such as demisexual, semisexual, asexual-ish and sexual-ish.[3]

Those who identify as gray-A tend to lean toward the more asexual side of the aforementioned spectrum.[4] As such, the emergence of online communities, such as the Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN), have given gray aces locations to discuss their orientation.[1][4]

Definitions

Gray asexuality is considered the gray area between asexuality and sexuality, in which a person may only experience sexual attraction on occasion.[1] The term gray-A is also considered a range of identities under the asexuality umbrella, or on the asexual spectrum, including demisexuality.[5] Other terms within this spectrum include semisexual, asexual-ish and sexual-ish.[3]

The gray-A spectrum usually includes individuals who "experience sexual attraction very rarely, only under specific circumstances, or of an intensity so low that it’s ignorable".[6] Sari Locker, a sexuality educator at Teachers College of Columbia University, argued during a Mic interview that gray-asexuals "feel they are within the gray area between asexuality and more typical sexual interest".[7]

Demisexuality

Demisexuality refers to those who "may experience secondary sexual attraction after a close emotional connection has already formed".[8] Demisexuality as a term originated on AVEN in about 2008 to describe being almost asexual, and the community has been slowly growing ever since.[2] Demisexuality, being a gray-asexuality orientation and having ties in its origin to the asexual community, is a part of the asexual spectrum, with people who fall under the asexual spectrum.[9] The Demisexual Resource Center says that "Demisexuals are considered part of the asexual community because for the most part, they don’t feel sexual attraction. Many demisexuals are only attracted to a handful of people in their lifetimes, or even just one person. Many demisexuals are also uninterested in sex, so they have a lot in common with asexuals."[10] Demisexuality is different for different people because of several reasons, one of the first and foremost being that the definition of "emotional bond" varies from person to person.[11] Another reason it varies is because people in the asexual spectrum communities often switch labels throughout their lives, and fluidity in orientation and identity is a common attitude.[2] Demisexuals can have any romantic orientation, including being aromantic (romantic attraction to no genders), gray-aromantic (the area between being aromantic and feeling romantic attraction), demiromantic (not feeling romantic attraction until an emotional bond is formed)-- they can also be heteroromantic, homoromantic, biromantic, panromantic, or polyromantic.[12]

Romantic orientation

The romantic orientation of a gray-A identifying individual can vary, because sexual and romantic identities are not necessarily linked.[8] While some are aromantic, others are heteroromantic, homoromantic, biromantic, or panromantic, and regardless of romantic orientation, are able to develop intimate relationships with other individuals.[2][3]

Community

A commonly used asexual pride flag, in which gray represents gray sexuality

A Wired article notes examples of fluidity in the asexual and gray-A spectrum being accepted within the asexual community.[2] A Huffington Post article quotes a gray-A-identifying high school student saying, "Sexuality is so fluid, and Gray-A presents more of a possibility to be unsure."[3]

The AVEN, as well as blogging websites such as Tumblr, have given ways for gray-As to find acceptance in their communities.[6] While gray-As are noted to have variety in the experiences of sexual attraction, individuals in the community share their identification within the spectrum.[13] A black, gray, white, and purple flag is commonly used to display pride in the asexual community. The gray bar represents the area of gray sexuality within the community.[14]

Research

Asexuality in general is relatively new to academic research and public discourse.[15][16] There have been, however, some instances of gray-sexuality being included in research on asexuality as a spectrum, such as that of Columbia University's Caroline H. McClave.[17] In her Master's thesis, McClave defines "gray-sexual" as "people who have experienced sexual attraction, but prefer to have no sexual activity".[17] In addition, McClave uses demographic and behavioral variables that showed significant differences between asexual and sexual people in previous studies, in order to "assess the validity" of her definition of gray-sexuality.[17]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Bogaert, Anthony F. (2015-01-04). Understanding Asexuality. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781442201002.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 McGowan, Kat (February 18, 2015). "Young, Attractive, and Totally Not Into Having Sex". Wired. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Mosbergen, Dominique (June 19, 2013). "The Asexual Spectrum: Identities In The Ace Community (INFOGRAPHIC)". Huffington Post. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
  4. 1 2 White, Rachel (November 22, 2011). "What It Means To Be "Gray-Sexual"". The Frisky. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
  5. ↑ Weinberg, Thomas S.; Newmahr, Staci (2014-03-06). Selves, Symbols, and Sexualities: An Interactionist Anthology. SAGE Publications. ISBN 9781483323893.
  6. 1 2 Shoemaker, Dale (February 13, 2015). "No Sex, No Love: Exploring asexuality, aromanticism at Pitt". The Pitt News. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
  7. ↑ Zeilinger, Julie (May 1, 2015). "6 Actual Facts About What It Really Means to Be Asexual". Mic. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
  8. 1 2 "Asexuality, Attraction, and Romantic Orientation". University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
  9. ↑ "What is demisexuality?". MNN - Mother Nature Network. Retrieved 2016-12-15.
  10. ↑ "What is Demisexuality? | Demisexuality Resource Center". demisexuality.org. Retrieved 2016-12-15.
  11. ↑ "Bustle". www.bustle.com. Retrieved 2016-12-16.
  12. ↑ "What Does It Mean To Be Demisexual And Demiromantic? - HelloFlo". HelloFlo. 2016-06-02. Retrieved 2016-12-16.
  13. ↑ Cerankowski, Karli June; Milks, Megan (2014-03-14). Asexualities: Feminist and Queer Perspectives. Routledge. ISBN 9781134692538.
  14. ↑ Williams, Isabel. "Introduction to Asexual Identities & Resource Guide". Campus Pride. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
  15. ↑ Stark, Leah (February 23, 2015). "Stanford scholar blazes pathway for academic study of asexuality". Stanford News. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
  16. ↑ Smith, SE (August 21, 2012). "Asexuality always existed, you just didn't notice it". The Guardian. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
  17. 1 2 3 McClave, Caroline H. (2013). Asexuality as a Spectrum: A National Probability Sample Comparison to the Sexual Community in the UK (Master's). Columbia University. Retrieved March 5, 2015.

Bibliography

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