2021/12/17 by Daniel Copulsky, Phillip L. Hammack · 1 citation
Medicine · Psychology · #Asexuality #Attraction #Demography #Developmental psychology #Gender identity #Gender studies #Human sexuality #Identity (music) #Psychology #Sexual attraction #Sexual behavior #Sexual orientation #Social psychology #Sociology #Urticaria and Related Conditions
paper · doi:10.1080/00224499.2021.2012113
openalex publication_date 2021/12/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
As identities within the ace spectrum gain greater visibility in describing those who experience limited or no sexual attraction, it is vital to understand points of commonality and distinction among individuals who identify as asexual, graysexual, and demisexual. Among respondents to the Ace Community Survey, a large international sample of individuals who identify on the ace spectrum, we found that those who identified as asexual (n = 9,476, Mage = 22.3, 61.0% female, 12.5% male), graysexual (n = 1,698, Mage = 24.2, 58.8% female, 16.5% male), or demisexual (n = 1,442, Mage = 24.2, 62.8% female, 12.6% male) varied in indicators related to sexual desire, behavior, and identity. Asexual individuals were the least likely to be in a relationship, experience romantic attraction, or identify with orientation labels signifying genders of attraction such as straight, bisexual, heteroromantic, and biromantic. Asexual individuals were the most likely to identify as aromantic, graysexual individuals the most likely to identify as grayromantic, and demisexual individuals the most likely to identify as demiromantic. Asexual individuals also scored the lowest on measures of sex drive, personal disposition toward engaging in sex, and masturbation frequency, with graysexual individuals scoring lower than demisexual individuals on the first two.