Abstract
Asexuality is defined as a unique sexual orientation characterized by a lack of sexual attraction to others. This has been challenged, with some experts positing that it is better explained as a sexual dysfunction. Sexual Interest/Arousal Disorder (SIAD) is characterized by absent/reduced sexual interest/arousal paired with personal distress, with two subtypes: acquired and lifelong. Research suggests that while asexuality and acquired SIAD are distinct entities, there may be overlap between asexuality and lifelong SIAD. Findings from studies using eye-tracking and implicit association tasks suggest that these methodologies might differentiate these groups on the basis of their neural mechanisms. However, no study has compared their cognitive processing of sexual cues, and the literature on lifelong SIAD is minimal. The current study tested differences in the cognitive processing of sexual cues between asexual individuals and women with SIAD (lifelong and acquired). Forty-two asexual individuals and 25 heterosexual women with SIAD (16: acquired; 9: lifelong) completed three study components: a visual attention task, a Single Category-Implicit Association Task, and the sex semantic differential. ANOVAs examined group differences in: 1) visual attention to erotic cues, 2) implicit appraisals of sexual words, and 3) explicit appraisals of sex. Women with SIAD displayed a controlled attention preference for erotic images and areas of sexual contact, with longer dwell times to these areas relative to asexual individuals, who did not gaze preferentially at erotic cues. For implicit appraisals, all groups demonstrated negative—neutral implicit associations with sexual words. For explicit appraisals, women with acquired SIAD reported more positive evaluations of sex relative to asexual individuals and women with lifelong SIAD. This project sheds light on key differences between asexuality and low desire, and has implications for best clinical practice guidelines for the assessment of lifelong SIAD.
Highlights
The Asexuality Visibility and Education Network (AVEN) aims to reduce the marginalization experienced by this group by facilitating open communication about asexuality, which they conceptualize as a unique sexual orientation [8]
While we hypothesized that women with lifelong and acquired Sexual Interest/ Arousal Disorder (SIAD) would report positive explicit appraisals of sex, our results revealed that women with lifelong SIAD reported attitudes that were neither positive or negative, with their sex semantic differential scores falling near the midpoint of the scale
The present findings provide new data showing that heterosexual women with lifelong and acquired SIAD display a controlled visual attention preference for sexual cues, whereas asexual persons do not
Summary
Human asexuality is generally defined as a lack of sexual attraction to others [1]. There has been a surge of academic interest in asexuality in response to national probability studies suggesting approximately 0.4–1% of the population identifies as asexual [2,3,4]. Despite this wave of research, there has not been a corresponding shift in societal acceptance of those who do not experience sexual attraction, with empirical evidence suggesting that asexual individuals experience stigmatization [5, 6]. The psychological community struggles with the distinction between asexuality and Sexual Interest/ Arousal Disorder (SIAD), given both groups’ disinterest in sexual activity [9, 10]
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