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Notes
1. As Poston and Baumle (Citation2010) note, the category of people who chose ‘something else’ in relation to the self-identification question or ‘not sure’ in terms of desire most likely includes more than just asexual individuals.
2. AVEN was established in 2001 by an American college student, David Jay, who was frustrated at the lack of understanding of asexuality shown by his university's LGBT group. A distinctive characteristic of AVEN is the high degree of reflexivity and engagement its members exhibit in relation to academic research. For example, new studies are often discussed within online communities; self-identified asexual individuals report having published or planning to publish academic papers; and direct engagement with asexuality researchers is common.
3. A sexual orientation can be conceptualised as a ‘disposition’ based on a person's ‘sexual desires and fantasies and the sexual behaviours he or she is disposed to engage in under ideal conditions’ (Stein, Citation2001, p. 45).
4. Sexual identity can be conceptualised as how one consciously understands one's own sexuality (i.e. ‘Who do I think I am sexually?’), and does not necessarily depend on either desires or behaviour (Stein, Citation2001).
5. Chasin (Citation2011) notes that individuals with HSDD might choose to identify as asexual if they are made aware of the existence of asexuality as a possible social identity.