Asexuality has always existed and it’s crazy to think about
Guys I literally made a Reddit account to talk about this. It’s something I’ve been thinking about all day and I need to shout it into the void to people who would understand.
For context, I’m ace and am well-versed in queer theory, history, etc. so I know what some people might say. Yes, of course asexuality always existed, in the same way that homosexuality always existed, in the same way bisexuality always existed, etc., and it really isn’t that crazy. But the thing is — homosexuality and bisexuality didn’t always exist because we as humans didn’t always have the same concept of sexuality as we do today. I.e., the concept of heterosexuality didn’t always exist, therefore homosexuality couldn’t have existed then, either. There was no reason to differentiate being gay or straight. Even later on when “straight” relationships became the norm, there was no identity related to homosexuality the way there is today; it was your acts that were “homosexual”, not you yourself.
This is why I think talking about this is so important. Because if asexuality has always existed, then it’s in a completely different ball-game to homosexuality. Unlike the concept of “straightness”, the concept of “sex” has literally existed as long as there have been humans, probably in a similar enough capacity as it exists today. And if it is true that asexuality is an inherent experience that humans are able to have — that is, it isn’t something specific to the modern day, which I think is true anyway — then asexuality has literally always existed, because it has always had something to compare itself to (sexual attraction). Basically, when I say that asexuality has always existed, I mean that it is literally prehistorical.
(I’m sorry if this is kind of incomprehensible and/or is not as big of a deal as I’m making it out to be. I’m writing this at 1:30am.)