An asexual woman opens up about the challenges of living with a lack of sexual attraction to others.
Meet Emi Salida – a 21-year-old vlogger who recently spoke out about what it was like growing up as an asexual person. In an interview with LADbible TV, the young activist candidly revealed some of the hardships she has faced and tried to clear the air about asexuality in general.
One of her first memories of identifying herself as a non-sexual person was of a moment when she was five or six and her friends were discussing the boys they had a crush on. At the time, Emi was not aware of what asexuality meant, but she recognized she “didn’t ever feel a crush or an excitement to be around any of these boys.”
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To fit in with her friends, she used to assume: “This boy is nice to me so that must mean I like him and have a crush on him.”
The vlogger recalled:
“I look back at that and I really pick that up as an early sign of my asexuality, because I just didn’t experience these childhood crushes in the same way that everyone else used to.”
For Emi, hearing her friends talk about their early attractions felt as though “everyone kind of knew something that [she] didn’t.”
But when she was just about to go to college, after a conversation with her pals about their sexual preferences, she realized for sure she was different. She simply didn’t fancy anyone.
However, the 21-year-old disclosed she does experience romantic attraction. She said:
“I like the dates and the holding hands and just the romantic intimacy but not the sexual stuff. That’s how I’ve always described the distinction between the two.”
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And if you are curious, here’s Emi’s definition of asexuality:
“That just means that that’s just not part of my brain that clicks in the same way it does for everyone else.
Some asexual people can still have sex, some don’t, some don’t mind if it makes their partner happy and it’s something they want to do, then that makes them happy as well…
Asexuality is just not experiencing sexual attraction.”
Check out the full interview:
Where do you stand on asexuality? Do you know someone who identifies themselves as asexual? Let us know in the comment section!
