'House' episode offends asexuals

Silly Green Monkey said:
Suppose you get your way, and anyone who masturbates isn't asexual. What then are people to be called?
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Sexually active people.

Only people who, because of a physiological or biological reason cannot have sex because, say, they lack sexual hormones, are asexual.

A cell is an asexual organism because it cannot, even it wanted, have sex. It doesn't even have sexual hormones that would allow it to feel sexual desire.

Silly Green Monkey said:
They still don't have sexual attraction,
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A person who masturbates does have the ability to develop sexual attraction toward another person. That they currently aren't engaging in sex with anyone because they decided to remain celibate, is another thing. But their ability to be sexually attracted and active is latent in them.

Silly Green Monkey said:
so they won't fit into any of the other sexual orientation categories.
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Since a person who masturbates is a sexually active person, they do have a sexual orientation, so your point is moot.

But if you want to continue this silliness of calling asexuality a sexual orientation to fit your own made up mental taxonomy, I'm afraid we're not getting anywhere.

Silly Green Monkey said:
Do they just get put on a list for House to cure them?
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No. They get put in the list of sexually active people. And then, depending on their orientation, they are either straight, gay or bi.

Let me restate this in case you forgot at this point: Anyone who feels the desire of masturbating because they are sexually active (meaning they have the hormones in their body that allow them to feel sexual desire) is a sexual person.
 
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Silly Green Monkey said:
Suppose you get your way, and anyone who masturbates isn't asexual. What then are people to be called? They still don't have sexual attraction, so they won't fit into any of the other sexual orientation categories. Do they just get put on a list for House to cure them?
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A person who isn't sexually attracted to other people is a normal but uncommon variation on adult human sexuality. This orientation would cause unique issues in our culture which places a high value on sexual relationships. Because this orientation is uncommon, less people are aware of it and the issues unique to this orientation could cause misunderstanding. Better information in general will help prevent misunderstandings. In order to get the information out there, a descriptive title is helpful.

No orientation description is entirely accurate because human attraction works on a sliding scale. For the purposes of describing someone on the very far side of the sexual interest scale, asexual is appropriate. It is easily understood, makes the case succinctly and has been adopted by the people who feel a part of that orientation.
 
Ron_Tomkins said:
Did you bother reading the whole post? Apparently not.
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I did - twice now. You say at one point that anyone who masturbates has the ability to have a sexual attraction, and then at another point state that anyone who masturbates does have a sexual attraction. Reconcile these, and then tell me - if a person masturbates but feels no sexual attraction to anyone or anything, what is his or her orientation?

And if you would be so kind, what would you call the orientation of a person who feels no attraction to anyone and does not masturbate?
 
I'm surpirsed nobody mentioned Woody Allen's defintion -- "at least mastrubation is sex with someone you love". But really, it seems to me a bizzare argument over words. Mastrubation is obviously a sexual act (duh), but surely if someone said "I had sex last night" he usually doesn't mean "I mastrubated", does he?
 
If a mother comes screaming to her teenager "are you having sex????", she's not asking if her child masturbates, she's asking if there's a baby being made somewhere. The definitions of sex
Google search top result said:
Noun:
(chiefly with reference to people) Sexual activity, including specifically sexual intercourse.
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and sexual intercourse
Dictionary.com said:
sexual intercourse

— n
the act carried out for procreation or for pleasure in which, typically, the insertion of the male's erect penis into the female's vagina is followed by rhythmic thrusting usually culminating in orgasm; copulation; coitus
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even make it clear it's usually referring to heterosexual penetrative sexual acts.

So Ron, if someone has the ability to develop a sexual attraction, but never does, and still masturbates, what are they then? Does my young friend from the startrek.com chat room switch sexual orientations when he goes on antidepressants and loses his sex drive, but is still finds girls sexually attractive? Are all men with ED who really want to have sex, but can't get it up, now asexual despite their attempts to have sex? Are/were men who were castrated or became eunuchs (excision of the external genitalia) having their sexual orientations changed by the surgeons?

I say not, I say sexual orientation and attraction are all in your head, not between your legs.
 
Are you seriously saying that if babies aren't being made it's not sex? WTF?
 
Checkmite said:
I did - twice now. You say at one point that anyone who masturbates has the ability to have a sexual attraction, and then at another point state that anyone who masturbates does have a sexual attraction. Reconcile these, and then tell me - if a person masturbates but feels no sexual attraction to anyone or anything, what is his or her orientation?
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Yes. You indeed didn't read. I said that a person who masturbates is sexually active and has the ability to develop sexual attraction for a person. The question of whether that would be a male or a female is a question regarding sexual orientation. Your are equivocation two different things: Whether a person is sexually active or not, and their sexual orientation. The second one, obviously, only pertains to people who are sexually active.
 
What if their orientation is toward neither male nor female? Is it impossible to masturbate without being oriented toward one or the other (or both)? If so, why?
 
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Checkmite said:
What if their orientation is toward neither male nor female?
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Then they are celibate, or whatever you want to call it. But if they are sexually active, if the have hormones that give them the desire to masturbate, they are not asexual.

For the last time: Asexuality is not a sexual orientation. It's a lack of sexual desire.
 
Ron_Tomkins said:
Then they are celibate, or whatever you want to call it. But if they are sexually active, if the have hormones that give them the desire to masturbate, they are not asexual.

For the last time: Asexuality is not a sexual orientation. It's a lack of sexual desire.
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So wait, then you're saying it's impossible to masturbate unless you have some kind of sexual desire?
 
Checkmite said:
So wait, then you're saying it's impossible to masturbate unless you have some kind of sexual desire?
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Obviously. You cannot masturbate if you're not sexually active. This doesn't mean you have to have a desire for someone in specific. You can always just masturbate, enjoying the masturbation itself, without fantasizing about anyone.

Funny thing how the organism works, doesn't it? ;)
 
So if somebody does exactly that, then...what would their orientation be?

Simple question.
 
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Checkmite said:
So if somebody does exactly that, then...what would their orientation be?

Simple question.
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That depends on the person.
But that's not the point I'm making. The point I'm making is that they are not asexual. Regardless of what their orientation is.
 
Ron_Tomkins said:
That depends on the person.
But that's not the point I'm making. The point I'm making is that they are not asexual. Regardless of what their orientation is.
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I know that's what you're trying to say; I'm just asking what your alternative terminology is.

What are such a person's possible orientations? Stop trying to wiggle out of giving a straight answer to this. If they do not find anybody or anything sexually attractive, then what is their orientation? If "asexual" is the wrong word for that specific person, what is the right one? The question flows logically from your assertion. "That's not the point I'm making" is intellectual cowardice.
 
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Checkmite said:
I know that's what you're trying to say; I'm just asking what your alternative terminology is.

What are such a person's possible orientations? Stop trying to wiggle out of giving a straight answer to this. If they do not find anybody or anything sexually attractive, then what is their orientation? If "asexual" is the wrong word for that specific person, what is the right one? The question flows logically from your assertion. "That's not the point I'm making" is intellectual cowardice.
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Checkmite:

The reason "asexual" is the only word you cannot use to define these people, is because, even though you may not know what their orientation is, they are still sexually active. Even if they claim they're not attracted to anyone. They are still sexually active and thus, not asexual because an asexual person is the opposite of a sexually active person. You're either one or the other.

Understand that once and for all: a sexually active person is, by definition, not asexual. What their orientation is, that's a different question and has nothing to do with whether they are sexually active or asexual. Two completely separate questions that don't affect each other.

So what do you call a sexually active person who says they're not attracted to anyone? I don't know. Call them whatever you want. But you cannot call them Asexual, because they are sexually active. You also cannot call them a Reptile, because they're human. The fact that they're human means they cannot be a Reptile. And the fact they are sexually active means they are not asexual.

This is my last attempt to explain this simple, straightforward, binary, commonsensical concept to you.
 
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