"Sex is natural, sex is good, not everybody does it but everybody should." George Michael's lyric reflected social attitudes in the 80s, and it still rings true for many people today.
But, what if you just aren't that into sex? What does that mean for you?
Asexuality is part of the sexual spectrum. Asexual people don't experience sexual attraction. They still have the same emotional needs as others and are capable of forming intimate relationships. They just aren't interested in the sexual part.
An asexual marriage resembles a conventional marriage in many ways: fondness, compassion, partnership, support, legal rights, and comfort. Some asexual partners decide to have children, enduring sexual relations for the sole purpose of creating progeny.
Dr. Beth Hoffman, Associate Professor of Public Health at Cal State University Los Angeles, discusses asexuality and how asexual marriages work.
Asexual Marriage: How it Works
Featuring:
Dr. Beth Hoffman, Ph.D., M.P.H. is an associate professor in the Public Health Department and a Special Assistant the President for Los Angeles Based Curriculum at Cal State LA. She received her M.P.H. in 2002 from the University of Southern California’s Institute for Prevention Research and her Ph.D. in 2005 from the same institution. She is an expert in social network analysis and her dissertation focused on the effects of friends’ smoking on adolescent tobacco use behaviors. She is the founder of the Los Angeles-Based Learning Symposium at Cal State LA, which is an opportunity for faculty from around the Los Angeles basin to discuss their place-based pedagogy with like-minded others from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds. Her current research focuses on factors influencing sex- and drug-related behaviors of transgender women and gay men, among others. An advocate for healthy sexuality, she created and regularly teaches an undergraduate-level course on sex and sexuality targeted for public health and child development undergraduate students.
Beth Hoffman, PhD, MPH
Dr. Beth Hoffman, Ph.D., M.P.H. is an associate professor in the Public Health Department and a Special Assistant the President for Los Angeles Based Curriculum at Cal State LA. She received her M.P.H. in 2002 from the University of Southern California’s Institute for Prevention Research and her Ph.D. in 2005 from the same institution. She is an expert in social network analysis and her dissertation focused on the effects of friends’ smoking on adolescent tobacco use behaviors. She is the founder of the Los Angeles-Based Learning Symposium at Cal State LA, which is an opportunity for faculty from around the Los Angeles basin to discuss their place-based pedagogy with like-minded others from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds. Her current research focuses on factors influencing sex- and drug-related behaviors of transgender women and gay men, among others. An advocate for healthy sexuality, she created and regularly teaches an undergraduate-level course on sex and sexuality targeted for public health and child development undergraduate students.