GothmogII said:
That still infers choice in the matter. Some people will be alone for most if not all their lives, and not for lack of trying. In this sense a 'forced' asexuality, though I'm loath to use the word forced, as it implies that a person is denied relationships or sex because of perceived flaws in them by others. Less that, and more because they lack the confidence, or the opportunity never presents itself, or if it does they lose their chance because of their own inadequacies and fears.
Or on a more inexplicable note, that they don't -deserve- to have a relationship, or sex, or happiness.
Certainly, I've experienced that myself, in terms of the low self esteem and/or body image thing; it is still, however, in my view, a choice, from that point on, in terms of how one proceeds.
For long periods of time I certainly won't actively seek a relationship until I feel I'm ready for it (or indeed worthy of it, having not lived up to ideal of myself, rather than having a problem with the opposite, or indeed the same, gender in a sexual context; but I'm not saying I don't
desire sexual contact, which may or may not be the case... a lot of the time, when I heard people describe their asexuality, to me it seems very much like a sort of OCD-cleanliness behaviour they've been conditioned, or conditioned themselves into.
However, I don't negate the possibility of a number of people lacking attraction to either sex, but the vast majority of what I hear seems to be... self-denial of one type or another.
