The video below features asexual activists David Jay and Andrew Hinterliter discussing the push for change of DSM which currently consider asexuality a pathology.
If you know of a an asexual friendly therapist or someone researching human sexuality, let info@asexual.org know, and they can be included in the project.
H/T to Apositive.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Asexuals Push for Greater Recognition Via the DSM
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4 comments:
I am not sure why any one cares about this???? If someone does not want to have sex, please consider this an invitation to not do so. Why are we spending any effort in trying to get this changed. Please help us deal with homophobia and hate first. Please!
I agree that in some cases it is not a disorder, but if there does exist at least one person that doesn't want to have sex and it is actually a disorder. Then it should still be in the book. Perhaps documentation of healthy people that are asexual would be a better route to take.
You may be hurting someone that actually needs help by removing the references to past occurances. That book is meant to help people, not to discriminate against them.
Racy there are certainly people with sexual dysfunctions that are either psychological or physically based, and certainly they should be helped if they choose to go that route.
I think the problem here is the assumption that anyone non-sexual is disordered, if you used to be sexual and suddenly stopped, or you are not sexual and it is a problem for you then there should be resources available. Of course, we also need to make sure that for those who are troubled because they are asexual and society is overtly sexual that there are resources to help them accept their asexuality and not attempt to change it.
I had never heard about this until I read your blog. Intrigued, and lacking a decent workload today, I spent some time doing research on the subject (I’m an info junkie). From what I could find through ebsco and the like is a general consensus that the research just isn’t in yet or falls in favor of the current label. The 1983 Paula Nurius research, the 1994 UK research and the new 2007 Kinsey Institute study all have asexuality falling well below the standard error. Moreover, some of that was treatable, with a measurable outcome.
All that being said, the AVEN’s goal of creating awareness and a labeled normalcy is a noble one, but going to be difficult to accomplish in a society where their numbers fall below larger, more heavily researched, segments. Also, the fact that most of the designations do not currently classify asexuality as a disorder, but as ASD or HSDD, severely hurts their base argument. Asexuals will need more research and greater numbers before the scientific community will change their current classification.
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