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Patterns of Asexuality in China: Sexual Activity, Sexual and Romantic Attraction, and Sexual Desire

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Abstract

This study examined patterns of asexuality in Chinese asexual people in terms of sexual activities, sexual/romantic attraction, and sexual desire. The sample included 227 (64 men and 163 women) asexual participants and 57 (26 men and 31 women) uncertain asexual participants recruited from social networks for asexual people. The control group included 217 (115 men and 102 women) heterosexual participants recruited from general social networks. Participants scoring 40 or higher on the Asexuality Identification Scale were classified as asexual. Asexual participants reported having less frequent masturbation, sexual intercourse experience, and sexual and romantic attraction compared to heterosexual participants. Lower sexual attraction among asexuals indicated that “people who experience little or no sexual attraction” would be a more appropriate definition of asexuality. The pattern of uncertain asexual participants’ sexual/romantic attraction and sexual desire was intermediate between heterosexual and asexual participants. Asexual participants scored significantly lower on dyadic sexual desire and slightly lower on solitary sexual desire than heterosexual participants. There were significant differences in sexual activities and solitary sexual desire among romantic orientation categories. Homoromantic participants showed higher dyadic sexual desire and were more likely to engage in masturbation, indicating the heterogeneity among asexual people. The findings indicated that Chinese asexual people showed similar patterns of asexuality as in Western nations. Specifically, asexual people have little or no sexual attraction, non-partner-orientated sexual desire, and are heterogeneous in sexual activities and sexual desire. This implies similar mechanisms underlying the etiology of asexuality across cultures.

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Acknowledgements

This research is supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (SWU1709244).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Southwest University), Ministry of Education, Chongqing, China

    Lijun Zheng & Yanchen Su

  2. Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China

    Lijun Zheng & Yanchen Su

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  1. Lijun Zheng
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  2. Yanchen Su
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Correspondence to Lijun Zheng.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Zheng, L., Su, Y. Patterns of Asexuality in China: Sexual Activity, Sexual and Romantic Attraction, and Sexual Desire. Arch Sex Behav 47, 1265–1276 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-018-1158-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-018-1158-y

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