Aegosexuality is a term used to describe individuals who may experience

sexual arousal Sexual arousal (also known as sexual excitement) describes the Physiology, physiological and psychological responses in preparation for sexual intercourse or when exposed to Sexual stimulation, sexual stimuli. A number of physiological response ...

, enjoy sexual content,

masturbation Masturbation is a form of autoeroticism in which a person Sexual stimulation, sexually stimulates their own Sex organ, genitals for sexual arousal or other sexual pleasure, usually to the point of orgasm. Stimulation may involve the use of han ...

, or

sexual fantasies A sexual fantasy, or erotic fantasy, is an Autoeroticism, autoerotic mental image or pattern of thought that stirs a person's Human sexuality, sexuality and can create or enhance sexual arousal. A sexual Fantasy (psychology), fantasy can be crea ...

, but do not desire sexual activity with another person or wish to form sexual relationships with others. Aegosexuality is categorized within the

asexual Asexual or Asexuals may refer to: *Asexual reproduction **Asexual reproduction in starfish *Asexuality, the lack of sexual attraction to anyone or lack of interest in or desire for sexual activity. **Gray asexuality, the spectrum between asexualit ...

spectrum. Regarding romantic attraction, the term ''aegoromanticism'' is used.

Etymology and history

To describe this form of sexuality, sexologist

Anthony Bogaert Anthony Francis "Tony" Bogaert is a Canadian psychologist. He is a professor in both the Departments of Psychology and of Community Health Sciences at Brock University. Research Bogaert is known for studying multiple subjects related to human sex ...

coined the term autochorissexualism, defined as "sex without (choris) one's self/identity (auto)" or "identity-less sexuality." However, while autochorissexualism is classified within the context of

paraphilia A paraphilia is an experience of recurring or intense sexual arousal to atypical objects, places, situations, fantasies, behaviors, or individuals. It has also been defined as a sexual interest in anything other than a legally consenting human ...

, individuals who identify with this experience typically prefer the label aegosexual, which was coined in 2014.

Research

Research on aegosexuality highlights the diversity within the asexual spectrum and the varied relationships between sexual fantasy and self-identity. Aegosexual individuals may experience marginalization under frameworks such as

amatonormativity Amatonormativity () is the set of societal assumptions that everyone prospers with an exclusive romantic relationship. Elizabeth Brake coined the neologism to capture societal assumptions about romance. Brake wanted to describe the pressure sh ...

and human-oriented sexualism. According to research by Thom Winter-Gray and Nikki Hayfield, some aegosexual individuals feel that their engagement in sexual fantasies makes them "not asexual enough," while others experience sexual fantasies as disconnected from their self-identity, resulting in little to no conflict with their asexual identity. Some aegosexual individuals identify as

fictosexuality Fictosexuality is sexual attraction towards fictional characters. Romantic attraction towards fictional characters is called ''fictoromantic attraction''. The term ''fictosexuality'' describes the desire to engage in sexual relationships with f ...

to emphasize their preference for fictional objects of attraction. According to a study by Yuu Matsuura, which analyzed fictosexual discourse in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, critiques have been raised by aego-fictosexual individuals against the human-oriented sexualism that regards fictional sexual content as secondary compared to human-to-human sexual relationships.

References

{{LGBTQ Asexuality Sexual attraction

Etymology and history

Research

See also

References