With the advent of social media and rising awareness, people have gone on to explore their sexuality and different people have different sexual identities. While some identify as homosexual or bisexual, there are even those who have no sexual desires, and hence identify as asexual.
But while asexual people are commonly known to have no feelings related to sexual intercourse or any such activity, a new study seems to indicate that the idea might have more diverse interpretations for different people, since it mentions that asexuals do have sexual fantasies.
A study conducted on 739 people with 351 identifying as asexual, observed that half of asexual women and three quarters of asexual men admitted to having sexual fantasies and masturbating, while maintaining that they didn’t feel attraction to other people.
Although there was a difference in patterns for sexual fantasies and masturbation among asexual people and other sexual groups, some fantasies overlapped between other groups and those identifying as asexual.
While sexual fantasies cannot be considered reflections of innate sexual desires, the study also found that most asexual people fantasised about acts from a third person perspective.
The study does shed light on new details about asexual behaviour, but it only highlights a need for more research about it rather than drawing conclusions.
