Why do so many people think asexuality can be cured?

More than one in three Britons believe asexuality can be ‘cured’, a new study dubbed anything but ‘surprising’ has found.

Asexual people, often known as ‘aces’, feel little, fluctuating or no sexual attraction.

At least 28,000 people in England and Wales identify as asexual – or 0.06% – according to census data.

A study from King’s College London has shown that ace people face a mix of discrimination, ignorance and acceptance in the UK.

About nine in 10 (89%) of the 400 people surveyed in October said asexuality exists, leaving 11% who said the community does not.

Nearly a third (31%) of the 400 respondents said they believed that asexuality could be cured through therapy.

Conversion therapy is a discredited, pseudo-scientific practice that ace people are more likely to be ordered or undergo.

‘I’m not surprised by that finding at all, as it’s something I hear all the time,’ Yasmin Benoit, an asexual activist and model who is also a co-author of the study, told Metro.

‘I’ve been hearing it since I was a teenager and you can take a glance at online discourse and see how common it is to think that asexual people need fixing. It’s an unfortunately common asexual experience.’

Researchers like Yasmin sought to answer a rather simple question: ‘How much do people understand about asexual people in the UK in 2024?’

And according to the findings, some don’t exactly know much. A quarter (26%) said aces haven’t met the ‘right person yet’.

Four in 10 said that they wouldn’t believe someone is asexual if they have sex – activists stress there is no one way of being ace, and some asexual people have sexual relationships.

While more than a quarter (26%) said asexuality is a mental health problem.

A lack of sexual desire is no longer considered a mental disorder by some psychiatric bodies, though is counted as ‘hypoactive sexual desire dysfunction’ by others.

London researchers also found that 73% of those polled would be ‘comfortable’ having an asexual child.

Around the same number (71%) said equality legislation should protect asexual people in the same way it does for most members of the LGBTQ+ community.

To Yasmin, 28, the findings capture how spotty people’s understanding of asexual people like her is.

‘One thing I found particularly interesting about the findings is that – when asked – most people don’t think they have negative opinions of asexuality,’ the KCL visiting fellow said.

‘It’s like how I’ve never met someone who openly says they’re racist, but I’ve experienced racism.

‘People literally don’t know what acephobia is, or what asexuality is, so they don’t know that they’re doing or saying anything harmful.’

Most ace people are in the closet, Yasmin said, and aren’t coming out anytime soon due to the lack of awareness in the press, education and law.

‘People assume there must be something physically or mentally wrong with you, or that your asexuality is some kind of lifestyle choice or value judgement,’ she said.

‘In a sociopolitical climate that’s increasingly hostile towards LGBTQ+ people, acephobia is becoming more frequent, but we don’t have the same protections as other marginalised orientations, which makes us particularly vulnerable.’

Up until 2015, the UK was considered one of the most friendly places for the LGBTQ+ community in Europe by campaigners.

But the nation has since tumbled down the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association’s (ILGA-Europe) annual Rainbow Map to 16 out of 49.

Yasmin, however, remains hopeful. Recent meetings with MPs about including asexuals in anti-discrimination laws have been ‘positive’, she said, as has the reaction to asexuality being part of a proposed conversion therapy ban.

‘I’d love it if, further down the line, we can be included in the UK Equality Act 2010, demedicalised in the International Classification of Diseases, and it’d be amazing if we had equal access to IVF as well,’ she added.

‘That’s also a conversation that’s starting.’

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