BY THE

NUMBERS

Asexual people (or aces) experience little or no 28%

sexual attraction. While most asexual people desire
emotionally intimate relationships, they are not
drawn to sex as a way to express that intimacy. of the community is 18 or
younger

ASEXUALITY ISN’T ACES MIGHT

32%

Abstinence because of
Want friendship,
a bad relationship understanding, and

Abstinence because of empathy
of the community are between 19
religious reasons
Fall in love
and 21

Celibacy
Experience arousal and

Sexual repression, orgasm
aversion, or
Masturbate
19%
dysfunction
Have sex

Loss of libido due to
Not have sex
age or circumstance
Be of any gender, age,

Fear of intimacy or background of the community are currently

Inability to find a
Have a spouse and/or in high school
partner children
40%

of the community are in college

Aromantic – people who experience little or no romantic 20%

attraction and are content with close friendships and other
non-romantic relationships.
Demisexual – people who only experience sexual attraction of the community identify as
once they form a strong emotional connection with the person. transgender or are questioning
their gender identity
Grey-A – people who identify somewhere between sexual and
asexual on the sexuality spectrum.
41%
Queerplatonic – One type of non-romantic relationship where
there is an intense emotional connection going beyond what is
traditionally thought of as friendship.
Romantic orientations – Aces commonly use hetero-, homo-, of the community identify as
bi-, and pan- in front of the word romantic to describe who part of the LGBT community
they experience romantic attraction to. Source: Asexy Community Census
http://www.tinyurl.com/AsexyCensusResults

Asexual Awareness Week Community Engagement Series – Trevor Project | Last Updated April 2012
 ACE
SPECIFIC
ISSUES
Rejection by a partner or
love interest for coming out.
Teenagers who choose not
to have sex are bullied
because of it and are called
“anti-social,” “weird,”
“broken,” or “sick.”
Commentary that excludes
or degrades non-sexuality,
such as “Everybody has sex,
what’s wrong with you?”
LGBT communities aren’t
universally supportive of
asexuality.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
AVEN
Asexual Awareness Week
Asexual Explorations
Being an Ally
Hot Pieces of Ace
B Instead of saying…
Asexuality can’t exist.
E pan.
A You will know when it’s
time to have sex.
C Have you seen a doctor?
E involved in them.
This will pass, it is just a
P phase. Everyone wants
O sex sometimes.
Sex is a natural part of
SI
adult relationships.
Asexual Awareness Week Community Engagement Series – Trevor Project | Last Updated April 2012
Feeling empty, isolated, Some aces voice a fear of
and/or alone. never finding a partner who
would accept them for who
Asexual people can feel they are and/or worry that
broken or damaged and can they will grow old alone.
foster internalized distress
over asexuality.
Female identified asexual
Male identified asexual students can be singled out
students are sometimes for being “prudes” or
labeled as gay which leads to “selfish.”
bullying or rejection by
peers. Parents and friends can have
a variety of reactions to
Some hate being asexual and
someone coming out as ace,
wish that they could change.
even ones who are
Asexual-asexual relationships supportive of LGBT issues.
are rare; many asexual
people date and form Aces who choose to be out
relationships with non- on campus may be targets of
asexual people. bullying.
http://www.asexuality.org
http://www.asexualawarenessweek.com
http://asexystuff.blogspot.com/
http://tinyurl.com/BeAnAceAlly
http://www.youtube.com/HotPiecesofAce/ Asexual Pride Flag
Try saying…
Asexuality is a sexual orientation just like bi, gay, lesbian, and
Love doesn’t equal sex.
There are many happy, healthy relationships that don’t have sex
Sexuality is fluid and exists on a huge spectrum. There are many
different types of sexuality.
Sex and sexuality are complicated to figure out. Give yourself
time and space to explore what you are feeling.