TL;DR: A new study has found high levels of intolerance and ignorance towards the asexual community among young people, and conclude that the community is facing prejudice at greater levels than most other groups in society.
Many young people in the UK are "ignorant" of what being asexual means, which is contributing to intolerance towards this community, a new research study suggests.
The research, carried out by the Policy Institute at King’s College London with aromantic-asexual activist and QueerAF contributor Yasmin Benoit, found a significant number of the people they spoke to held prejudice towards the asexual community.
Many also didn't understand even the broad strokes of sexuality and romantic orientations that fall under the asexual umbrella.
Michael Sanders, Professor of Public Policy at King’s College London’s Policy Institute, said: “The findings are troubling, both in that many people hold misconceptions about asexuality, and that they are happily voicing discriminatory views – at a greater rate than for other groups.”
What did the 'Asexuality in the UK' study find?
The prejudice and misconception mean as many as one in three (31%) of the 400 mostly young respondents who took part told the study they held the untrue and misinformed view that asexuality can be “cured” by therapy.
It also found:
- One in four (23%) participants wrongly believed asexuality is a mental health problem
- A quarter (26%) said asexual people just haven’t met the right person yet.
- Two in five (42%) believe people cannot be asexual if they have sex.
- One in ten (11%) went as far as saying they don’t believe asexual people exist.
Asexuality is a spectrum, and like all sexual orientations, people experience differences within it. Asexuality refers to how someone feels about sex and whether they experience sexual attraction – not simply their behaviour.
Yasmin Benoit, who was a visiting research fellow on the study, told QueerAF that though the findings weren't surprising to her, they were surprising to the non-asexual researchers on the team:
"Queerphobia is on the rise. The LGBTQIA+ community is incredibly vulnerable at the moment; we're continuously under attack in the media, and there's a real push to take our rights away - but some of us didn't have protections in the first place."
Participants didn't hide their prejudice towards asexual people
The study used a “double-list experiment” methodology. It's designed to see if participants are motivated by what the researchers call “social desirability bias”. This is where people try to disguise their prejudice because of social norms they understand to be the case.
But Benoit says one of the most worrying takeaways is that people didn't try to hide their ignorance at all: "[The participants] were very open about their acephobia, there was no social desirability bias at all."
So although this wasn't the focus of the study, which was designed to get a sense of how prevalent acephobia is, the researchers conclude this without social norms like those around racism and homophobia, asexual people are likely to experience acephobia and hostility "with greater frequency than other groups in society."
Analysis: The anti-trans to acephobia pipeline
Our community is at its strongest when we understand that our fights are aligned. When we zoom out, we see how so much opposition to queerness comes from attempts to limit our self-determination and bodily autonomy.
That's why the same cohort who attack Benoit's online activism frequently join the chorus of anti-trans voices. "In particularly volatile times, it's important that no one gets left behind," Benoit told QueerAF. "Awareness of asexuality is still lacking, so are our legislative protections, and our representation in research."
This research is a valuable reminder of a much bigger picture at play. It’s a critical piece of the puzzle and struggle ahead. If we're going to win the fights they start against us, we'll need to do it together.
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