Outright International launched a paper that examines the experiences of asexual people across more than 30 countries
BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGE BY GETTY IMAGES
Nearly a third of asexual people in North America and Western Europe have been verbally harassed, as reported in a new paper.
This data from the 2024 Ace Community Survey, which had over 1,600 respondents, is just one of the many key talking points of Outright International’s discussion paper, titled Asexual People’s Human Rights. The paper examines the experiences of asexual people across more than 30 countries, mapping the abuses they face in everything from conversion practices to discrimination in healthcare.
One of the figures in the paper from the 2022 Ace Community Survey, which had nearly 9,000 respondents, states that over 10% of asexual people have been offered, advised or subjected to conversion practices. A 2024 survey in Vietnam of 475 respondents found that 40% of asexual people had experienced abuse from perpetrators who “expressed a desire or pressure to perform a ‘corrective’ act”.
Yasmin Benoit, a prominent asexual activist, partnered with Outright International on this paper. “I’m constantly asked about how asexual people are discriminated against. Here’s the answer,” Yasmin said. “Now, we have a report that explains just how extensive the issue is. Asexual discrimination isn’t just a problem in the UK or the US, it’s happening all over the world. It’s never been more important to stand up for the asexual community and for our LGBTQIA+ organisations to be asexual-inclusive.”
The paper also reports that asexual people are disproportionately victimised by sexual violence in some contexts. A 2017 report in Australia, which had over 30,000 student responses, found that asexual people were more likely than gay, lesbian or heterosexual people to have been sexually assaulted in universities.
In the workplace, asexual people can face discrimination just for coming out. A survey in Canada showed that 26% of asexual people were not comfortable disclosing their sexual orientation at work. This discomfort can also be seen in healthcare settings, with a 2018 study in the US stating that a majority of asexual people surveyed did not disclose their identity, or felt discomfort discussing it, to their medical providers.
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