Young adults who identify as asexual feel excluded from the wider LGBTQ community

Can you explain why it needs to be recognised @NuffSaidSam
To what purpose, exactly?

How do you know TV characters aren’t asexual?

There are loads of characters who are happily single and childless and it is never explained.

Loads of characters where their sexuality or lack of is not mentioned or relevant - why make assumptions about them?

It's needs to be recognised.

I agree it doesn't need to be celebrated anymore than being straight or gay or bi needs to be celebrated.

It's not a personal choice just like being staright or gay or bi isn't a personal choice.

No-one else needs to be part of it, just like no-one needs to be part of a straight relationship or a gay relationship. But it would be nice to have a character on TV be asexual, for example. Just like it's nice to see both straight and gay relationships/families represented.

Out of interest, do you feel the same about gay people or bi people? Or is it specifically asexual people you feel this about?

It looks like the survey just asked if the respondents felt a part of the LGBTQ community or not, then assumed that if the answer was 'No' then it indicated a problem. The respondents' 'No' could just mean 'No I don't because it's of no interest to me'.

But @Nimbostratus100 didnt you say you were a geneticist on the XY thread? So why would a geneticist be hanging round childrens playgrounds?

But including a mention of asexuality is both possible and desirable isn't it? It's not a big issue, it's not one that's hurting anyone else. It's a perfectly reasonable request.

If it's not a "big issue" why all the wailing about not feeling "included"?

I think that telling kids/young people that being childless is a perfectly legitimate option would also be good tbh. It's a shame that would make you feel 'entitled'.

To be clear I think it's entitled to expect other people with children to have to be "inclusive" of me as a person who doesn't have children, I don't expect them to "check their privilege" around me as a person without kids.

Not having children is of course "perfectly legitimate", I would have thought that goes without saying.

Everyone doesn't know.

If they did there wouldn't be the judgement and societal pressure to live a certain way.

If everyone knew that we could all live our lives however we want there wouldn't be any need for LGB or any of the other letters in the first place! It's needed because we live in a society with a narrow view of what's 'right' and acceptable. This hurts people.

There's a really good podcast called 'Out' with Suzi Ruffell where she talks to people about their experiences of coming out and they talk a lot about childhood experiences, feeling isolated, lack of representation, not knowing that the way they want to live their lives is ok and the damage that does. It's a really interesting listen if you're interested in genuinely understanding the issue.

Fair enough. Replace choice with personality, so...
Still ain't nobody's business but yours. Your desperation to share it with people who aren't interested is a little odd.

choice doesn't come into sexuality at all, including asexuality

But you're doing stats, you're not a chromosome expert.

you do know that your children will have staff near them, well within earshot, in their breaks and lunchtimes...playgrounds, canteens, libraries, where ever they are spending their time - those staff quite possibly know more about what your children say when you are not around than you do

It is valid. But it doesn't need to be recognised and celebrated by all around them. It's a personal choice, not affecting anyone else, so everyone else doesn't need to be a part of it.

Interesting reading.

I totally agree with paragraph one and three.

Massively disagree with paragraph two and four.

From what I understand you're claiming that because you don't understand asexuality/haven't experienced it, it's a nonsense/it doesn't exist/it's a conspiracy? Is that right?

Some people ARE asexual. That's how some people experience the world. Like how some people are gay or straight or bi. It's just like that.

I agree that no-one should have a label put on them that doesn't apply. I'm not aware of loads of teens being forced into labelling themselves as asexual and if that is happening it should stop! But that doesn't mean that being asexual is a nonsense or doesn't exist.

It's exists and it's valid. It's as valid as being gay. Or being straight. Or being bi.

er, you do understand that teacher are required to supervise children at break time?

Being childless is a perfectly legitimate option, just like being / not being sexually attracted to certain people is perfectly acceptable.
Nobody needs to wear a little badge to give these things legitimacy, everyone knows already. Where have you been? 🤷🏻‍♀️

ok but look at my camel post and try and imagine 99% of all conversations around you are about camels, as well as 99% of all music, books, films, dramas, in fact all media in general

Only in YOUR imagination are 99% of conversations, arts & media about sex camels. I know fuck all about stats but I know that the one quoted above is bs.

99% of all conversations around you are about camels, as well as 99% of all music, books, films, dramas, in fact all media in general

The current number one song of this year is about how great it is to be on your own and not in a relationship (Flowers). The best selling books this year - fiction & non-fiction - are about toxic families. Best film at the Oscars about a middle-aged woman who has difficulty filing her taxes on her laundrette business. The most talked about TV show is a crime drama set in Yorkshire. I'd say most people aren't actually that interested in sex as an activity outside of the bedroom. For emotionally healthy people it's a participation sport, not a spectator one.

What kind of weird porny world do you inhabit where 99% of your cultural references are sex-based?

The issue is not whether they're unhappy etc, it's why they are allocated a gender.

Goths had a collective tendency to be unhappy and sullen, but they didn't identify as unhappy goths wanting extra visibility.

For decades I chose to be single and many times within that period I was unhappy. But I didn't feel so self important that I projected that as ID onto the world.

Does everything today have to be labelled? Can't assexuals just be people who've ended up their way without conflating it to a specified category needing affirmation?

But including a mention of asexuality is both possible and desirable isn't it? It's not a big issue, it's not one that's hurting anyone else. It's a perfectly reasonable request.

I think that telling kids/young people that being childless is a perfectly legitimate option would also be good tbh. It's a shame that would make you feel 'entitled'.

Cool, so what the OP reported is not a problem after all. Glad we've cleared that up.

Not to the extent that it excludes everything else, no. But that's true of everything isn't it? No one issue dominates anyone's life completely!

I think recognising that some people are asexual, that that's fine and normal and part of everyday life, for example in relationship education, will make life a lot easier for the kids feeling like they're freaks. In just the same way that including information about gay relationships helps gay children to not feel like they're the only one/a freak/destined to be alone. It's just another sexual identity that should be included when we talk about these things.

Current attitudes to sexual orientation, preference and identifying could not me more inclusive that they are now.
Why now does everyone feel the need to have a title and category for their own sexual feelings or persuasion.
Enough of the labels just be you and comfortable with it, it doesn't need definition for everyone else.

its both. Every scientist is a statistician to some extent. My qualifications and research are in genetics and virology. but I ended up offered more and more work in stats, and then went into maths teaching. I still do free lance stats for both genetics and virology research, experiment design, etc.

It’s more like a bunch of atheists complaining that the university Islamic society wasn’t very welcoming to them…

If you are an asexual who is romantically attracted to people of the same gender, join the LGBT+ society.

If you are romantically attracted to people of the opposite gender but just don’t want to have sex, or aren’t romantically attracted to anyone, then no, you probably aren’t going to find you have a lot in common with a group of gay men. Doesn’t mean you can’t join, but it shouldn’t be a huge surprise if, as per this survey, you find the LBTQ society doesn’t really meet your needs.