Reconsidering Libido, Bodily Arousal, Hormones, Sexual Behaviour and Asexual Identity
Abstract
Asexuality is increasingly recognised as a sexual orientation characterised primarily by little or no sexual attraction. Yet public, clinical and even community conversations about asexuality have frequently concentrated on the absence of sexual attraction as though it necessarily implies an absence of libido, sexual desire, physiological arousal, masturbation, fantasy or sexual behaviour. This assumption obscures an important and insufficiently discussed group: asexual people who experience substantial or even high levels of libido while continuing to experience little or no sexual attraction toward other people.
Existing research demonstrates that asexuality is heterogeneous. Asexual people can experience sexual desire, physiological arousal, masturbation, sexual fantasies, romantic attraction and partnered relationships in different combinations. Studies have specifically found that physiological sexual arousal can occur in asexual women and that asexuality should not automatically be understood as a sexual dysfunction.
This article argues that high libido and asexuality are not inherently contradictory. Instead, they demonstrate why sexual desire and sexual attraction must be conceptually separated. It examines the biological and psychological dimensions of libido, questions the widespread assumption that testosterone or other hormones determine sexual orientation, and identifies the potential harms of attempts to medically or socially “increase” sexuality in asexual people. It also proposes a research agenda focused specifically on high-libido asexual experiences, including bodily self-regulation, masturbation, hormonal health, intimacy, stigma, healthcare communication and experiences in Asian communities.
Keywords: asexuality, high libido, sexual desire, sexual attraction, physiological arousal, masturbation, hormones, testosterone, oxytocin, sexual orientation, ace community, Asia, conversion practices
1. Introduction: The Asexual Who Still Has a Libido
Asexuality is commonly described as experiencing little or no sexual attraction. This definition is important because it distinguishes asexuality from simply having low libido. However, everyday discussions frequently collapse these two concepts.
This creates a particularly difficult situation for asexual people with substantial sexual desire.
An individual may experience:
- strong bodily sexual urges;
- frequent spontaneous arousal;
- masturbation;
- sexual fantasies;
- genital or physiological responses;
- an interest in sexual activity;
- hormonal fluctuations;
- a desire for bodily release;
- romantic or emotional intimacy;
while simultaneously experiencing little or no sexual attraction toward another person.
These experiences are not logically incompatible.
Research has repeatedly demonstrated substantial variation in sexual behaviour and desire among asexual people. A systematic review concluded that asexual people demonstrate considerable heterogeneity in sexual behaviour, fantasies, relationships and psychological processes, while finding no general evidence that asexual people have impaired sexual functioning.
Research involving self-identified asexual women has likewise demonstrated that physiological sexual arousal can occur despite reduced subjective experiences of sexual attraction. In one experimental study, asexual participants showed physiological and subjective arousal responses to erotic stimuli, challenging the idea that asexuality represents an inability to experience sexual arousal.
The distinction therefore matters:
A person can have a libido without experiencing sexual attraction.
This simple statement deserves much greater visibility.
2. Attraction Is Not the Same Thing as Libido
One of the most important conceptual problems in sexuality research is treating “sexuality” as a single system.
At minimum, several partially independent dimensions should be distinguished:
| Dimension | Question |
| Sexual attraction | Am I sexually attracted to a person? |
| Sexual desire/libido | Do I experience sexual urges or desire? |
| Physiological arousal | Does my body respond sexually? |
| Sexual behaviour | Do I masturbate or participate in sexual activity? |
| Sexual fantasy | Do I experience erotic thoughts or fantasies? |
| Romantic attraction | Do I want romantic/emotional partnership? |
| Sensual attraction | Do I desire touch, affection or physical closeness? |
| Sexual identity | How do I understand and label my sexuality? |
These dimensions do not always move together.
Asexuality research increasingly supports this multidimensional understanding. In a study examining attraction, behaviour and identity among 306 asexual participants, substantial variability was found across these domains.
Similarly, a large secondary analysis of seven asexuality studies involving 4,032 participants found that approximately 74% of asexual participants reported some form of romantic attraction, while romantic and aromantic asexual participants differed in partner-oriented sexual desire but not in several measures of solitary sexual desire, physiological sexual functioning, masturbation or sexual fantasy.
Therefore, “asexual” should not automatically be interpreted as:
no attraction + no desire + no arousal + no masturbation + no fantasy + no sexuality.
That equation is scientifically and phenomenologically inadequate.
3. What Does “High Libido Asexual” Mean?
The phrase high-libido asexual should be understood descriptively rather than as a formal medical diagnosis.
There is currently no universally accepted clinical threshold that defines “high libido asexuality.”
A useful working definition for research could be:
A high-libido asexual is an individual who identifies within the asexual spectrum and experiences relatively frequent, intense or persistent sexual desire or physiological sexual urges despite experiencing little or no sexual attraction toward other people.
This definition intentionally avoids requiring any particular behaviour.
A high-libido asexual person might masturbate frequently.
Another person might experience intense libido but choose not to masturbate.
Another might experience arousal but find sexual activity unpleasant.
Another might enjoy sexual activity under specific circumstances while experiencing no sexual attraction toward their partner.
Another might experience strong libido together with romantic attraction but no sexual attraction.
These should not automatically be treated as contradictions.
4. The Forgotten Question: “What Do I Do With My Libido?”
Much asexual discourse has understandably focused on the question:
“How do I explain that I don’t experience sexual attraction?”
A second question receives considerably less attention:
“What happens when my body nevertheless experiences sexual desire?”
This can create a distinctive form of identity confusion.
A person may think:
“If I want sexual release, perhaps I cannot really be asexual.”
Or:
“If I have a strong libido, perhaps something is wrong with my hormones.”
Or:
“If I experience sexual thoughts, perhaps I am secretly sexually attracted to people.”
These conclusions do not necessarily follow.
Earlier research already found that asexual participants varied considerably in sexual response and behaviour and that some asexual men reported masturbation frequencies comparable with sexual men.
A later study examining the stability of asexuality likewise distinguished sexual attraction from solitary and partner-oriented sexual desire. The researchers found that these dimensions can change differently over time.
Consequently, libido should not be treated as a compulsory diagnostic test for whether somebody is “really” asexual.
5. The Biology: What Actually Produces Libido?
The biology is considerably more complicated than the popular idea that “testosterone equals sex drive.”
Sexual desire involves interactions among endocrine systems, neurotransmitters, brain networks, psychological processes, relationships, stress, sleep, medication, physical health and environmental context.
Research has implicated:
- testosterone and other androgens;
- estrogen;
- prolactin;
- dopamine;
- oxytocin;
- serotonin;
- norepinephrine;
- endogenous opioids;
- melanocortins;
- hypothalamic signalling;
- and other neuroendocrine mechanisms.
A contemporary review of hormonal regulation of sexual desire describes interactions involving sex hormones, prolactin, oxytocin, kisspeptin, melanocortins and other endocrine systems.
This immediately challenges an overly simple question such as:
“Does asexuality happen because testosterone is low?”
The scientific answer is not that simple.
Testosterone is involved in sexual desire, but sexual desire is not reducible to testosterone concentration. Research involving healthy women and men has specifically challenged simplistic assumptions about a direct one-to-one relationship between testosterone and desire.
Therefore, a person can have typical endocrine functioning and still experience little or no sexual attraction.
6. “Happy Hormones” Are Not the Solution
The popular idea that people need to “release oxytocin,” “increase dopamine” or “boost testosterone” in order to feel happy or sexually fulfilled is biologically oversimplified.
There is no single chemical that constitutes happiness.
Similarly, there is no hormone that determines whether a person is asexual.
Human wellbeing emerges from complex interactions among:
- neurobiology;
- endocrine function;
- psychological processes;
- relationships;
- social connection;
- safety;
- autonomy;
- culture;
- personal meaning.
An asexual person does not need to become more sexually attracted to other people in order to have a healthy emotional life.
They may instead need:
- acceptance;
- bodily autonomy;
- accurate healthcare;
- privacy;
- relationships compatible with their boundaries;
- accurate sexual education;
- community belonging;
- freedom from coercion.
7. What About Oxytocin?
Oxytocin is sometimes popularly described as the “love hormone” or “happiness hormone.”
Neither description is sufficiently precise.
Oxytocin is a neuropeptide involved in several physiological and social processes, including aspects of bonding, social behaviour and sexual response. Its effects depend on context and interact with other biological systems.
Research has examined interactions between oxytocin and dopamine in sexual behaviour, while newer work highlights interactions between oxytocin and sex hormones.
Consequently, there is no single “happy hormone” that asexual people must somehow produce in order to compensate for their sexuality.
Human wellbeing is not controlled by one chemical.
Asexual people can experience:
- affection;
- emotional intimacy;
- friendship;
- romantic love;
- sensual pleasure;
- sexual pleasure;
- social connection;
- excitement;
- accomplishment;
- safety;
- belonging;
through enormously varied combinations of neurological, psychological and social processes.
The question should therefore not be:
“How can an asexual person replace the missing sex hormone?”
It should instead be:
“How do different people experience desire, pleasure, intimacy and wellbeing, and what forms of support do they want?”
8. The Dangerous Myth of “Increasing Testosterone to Cure Asexuality”
This issue becomes particularly important in societies where sexuality is strongly medicalised or where sexual-orientation diversity is poorly understood.
It is scientifically inappropriate to assume:
low sexual attraction = low testosterone = asexuality.
Hormonal disorders can affect sexual desire, and appropriate medical assessment can be important when clinically indicated. However, treating a hormone abnormality is fundamentally different from attempting to change someone’s sexual orientation.
Testosterone has a recognised role in sexual desire, but research does not support reducing sexual orientation to a testosterone level.
Therefore:
Increasing libido is not equivalent to creating sexual attraction.
A treatment that changes someone’s level of sexual desire would not necessarily change who they are sexually attracted to.
This distinction is especially important for healthcare professionals working with asexual patients.
9. Conversion Practices and the Asian Context
The possibility of sexual-orientation change efforts deserves particular attention in Asian contexts because documentation of conversion practices remains uneven across the region.
A United Nations Independent Expert report has documented conversion practices in multiple regions and notes that such practices can involve significant physical and psychological harm. Regional documentation also identifies conversion practices in several Asian countries, including China, South Korea and Malaysia, while emphasising that reliable data remain limited in many other Asian countries.
Importantly, most international conversion-therapy literature has historically focused on lesbian, gay and bisexual people and, in different contexts, transgender and gender-diverse people.
Asexual people require dedicated attention within this conversation.
A high-libido asexual person may be particularly vulnerable to a different form of misunderstanding:
“You have sexual desire, so we only need to increase it or direct it toward the appropriate sex.”
This is scientifically dangerous because it confuses intensity of desire with direction of attraction.
Increasing testosterone, prescribing hormones without clinical indication, coercing sexual behaviour, religious counselling intended to “restore” sexuality, forced marriage, sexual exposure, or other attempts to make someone sexually attracted to others should not be normalised as healthcare.
10. The High-Libido Asexual Person May Experience a Double Invisibility
High-libido asexual people can potentially experience two contradictory stereotypes simultaneously.
The first stereotype says:
“Asexual people do not want sex.”
The second says:
“If you want sex, you cannot be asexual.”
The person therefore becomes invisible from both directions.
Their experience may be dismissed by mainstream society because they identify as asexual, while simultaneously being dismissed within asexual spaces because they experience significant libido.
This creates a form of double invalidation.
The person may begin questioning:
- “Am I actually asexual?”
- “Is my libido proof that my identity is wrong?”
- “Do I need a hormone test?”
- “Should I seek treatment?”
- “Why does my body respond when I don’t find anyone sexually attractive?”
- “Can I be asexual if I masturbate?”
- “Can I be asexual if I enjoy sexual sensations?”
- “Can I want intimacy without wanting sexual attraction?”
These questions deserve evidence-based answers rather than shame.
11. Why the Topic Remains Unspoken
There are several possible reasons for this silence.
First, early definitions of asexuality often emphasised low or absent sexual desire, which may have unintentionally encouraged an association between asexual identity and low libido. Subsequent research has demonstrated considerably more variation.
Second, community visibility campaigns have often needed to communicate a simple message:
“Asexuality means little or no sexual attraction.”
That message has been important for visibility, but simplification can create unintended exclusions.
Third, high-libido asexual people may fear that disclosing their libido will be interpreted as evidence that they are not asexual.
Fourth, sexual discussions themselves can be uncomfortable within communities that have historically had to defend themselves against sexualisation and invalidation.
This can produce an unusual paradox:
Asexual people may fight to establish that they can exist without sexual attraction, while high-libido asexual people may simultaneously have to fight to establish that they can exist with sexual desire.
Both statements can be true.
12. What Researchers Should Investigate
The current research base is not sufficient to answer many practical questions about high-libido asexuality.
Future studies should investigate:
13.1 Prevalence
How common is high libido among people who identify as asexual?
Current research demonstrates heterogeneity, but there is insufficient evidence to confidently state how large this subgroup is.
13.2 Solitary versus Partner-Oriented Desire
Researchers should distinguish:
- desire for masturbation;
- desire for orgasm;
- desire for sexual touch;
- desire for sexual partnership;
- attraction to specific individuals.
These should not be combined into one “sex drive” variable.
15.3 Physiological Arousal
More research is needed on how asexual people experience:
- spontaneous arousal;
- genital responses;
- orgasm;
- hormonal cycles;
- physiological sexual response;
- subjective versus physiological arousal.
15.4 Hormonal Health
Studies should examine whether high-libido asexual people show typical population-level endocrine patterns rather than assuming hormonal abnormality.
15.5 Mental Health
Researchers should distinguish distress caused by libido itself from distress caused by:
- stigma;
- identity invalidation;
- loneliness;
- relationship conflict;
- religious pressure;
- family expectations;
- forced marriage;
- discrimination;
- healthcare misunderstanding.
Asexuality itself should not automatically be treated as the source of distress.
15.6 Cultural Differences
Research has been disproportionately concentrated in Western populations. A systematic review specifically identified limited geographic and cultural diversity as a major limitation of the existing literature.
Research in South Asia and other Asian regions is particularly necessary.
16. A New Research Framework: The “Asexual Libido Gap”
This article proposes the concept of an Asexual Libido Gap.
The Asexual Libido Gap describes the difference between:
the public/community expectation that asexuality involves low or absent libido
and
the lived reality of asexual people whose libido is substantial or high.
This gap can generate:
- identity confusion;
- internalised stigma;
- avoidance of sexual-health services;
- difficulty communicating with partners;
- fear of disclosure;
- inappropriate medical investigation;
- vulnerability to conversion practices;
- lack of appropriate educational resources.
The concept is not intended to create another rigid category within the asexual spectrum.
Instead, it provides researchers with a question:
What happens when an individual’s level of sexual desire does not match the stereotype associated with their sexual orientation?
17. Healthcare Needs to Ask Better Questions
Asexual-inclusive sexual healthcare should avoid assuming that libido and attraction are the same.
Instead of asking only:
“Do you have sexual desire?”
clinicians could ask:
“Do you experience sexual attraction toward other people?”
and separately:
“Do you experience sexual desire or physical sexual urges?”
and:
“Do you experience physiological arousal?”
and:
“Do you masturbate or experience a desire for sexual release?”
and:
“Are any of these experiences causing you distress?”
and finally:
“What kind of support are you actually seeking?”
These questions would produce much better clinical information.
They would also reduce the risk of interpreting normal variations in asexual sexuality as pathology.
A recent pilot study on asexuality disclosure in healthcare found that participants reported misunderstanding and stigma in clinical contexts, illustrating the continuing need for more knowledgeable and affirming healthcare practice.
Selected academic references
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Brotto, L. A., Knudson, G., Inskip, J., Rhodes, K., & Erskine, Y. (2008). Asexuality: A mixed-methods approach. Archives of Sexual Behavior.
Brotto, L. A., et al. (2010). Physiological and subjective sexual arousal in self-identified asexual women. Archives of Sexual Behavior.
de Oliveira, L., et al. (2021). Patterns of sexual behavior and psychological processes in asexual persons: a systematic review. International Journal of Impotence Research.
Prause, N., & Graham, C. A. (2007). Asexuality: classification and characterization. Archives of Sexual Behavior.
Su, Y., & Zheng, L. (2023). Stability and Change in Asexuality: Relationship Between Sexual/Romantic Attraction and Sexual Desire. Journal of Sex Research.
Yule, M. A., Brotto, L. A., & Gorzalka, B. B. (2020). Ace and Aro: Understanding Differences in Romantic Attractions Among Persons Identifying as Asexual. Archives of Sexual Behavior.
Nimbi, F. M., et al. (2024). Deepening Sexual Desire and Erotic Fantasies Research in the ACE Spectrum. Archives of Sexual Behavior.
Schneckenburger, S., et al. (2023). Asexuality. Canadian Medical Association Journal.
United Nations Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Report on Conversion Therapy.
