2022 Volume 20 Pages 65-82
The term ‘asexuality’ meaning lack of sexual desire was pathologized a sexual disorder in the1980 DSM III (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) created by the APA (American Psychiatric Association). The criterion was based not only on the general assumption of sexual desire among humans as natural, but also on sexual normativity to link romance with sex. Eventually, the last edition DSM-V excluded asexuality from the diagnostic criteria of hypoactive sexual desire disorder. This paper examines the arguments that were put forward by AVEN (Asexual Visibility and Education Network) against medical discourses in the revision process of DSM-V. This also shows how they combated the traditional sexual norms behind the discourses. I analyze the 2008 report “Asexuality, DSM, HSDD, and the DSM A Collaborative Report” by a committee formed for the review, the AVEN DSM Task Force. Defining asexuality as a sexual orientation, AVEN did not agree with the medicalization of sexuality, but claimed the exclusion of asexuality from the category of sexual disorders. In conclusion, the AVEN’s endeavor widened sexual norms including marginalized sexual orientations by dissociating sexual desire from romantic attraction unlike conventional combination of them in the revision process.
https://ror.org/0197nmd03 