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Person Praised After Coming Out As ‘Grays**ual’
A person has been praised after coming out as ‘grays**ual.’
Mark Cusack has shared their experience with the orientation as more people continue to identify with the s**uality, receiving widespread praise for their openness and educational approach.
S**uality is, of course, a spectrum, and the grays**uality spectrum includes demis**ual, which was brought renewed attention after former X Factor judge and I’m A Celebrity star Tulisa shared that she identified as demis**ual last year.
Many people mistake being grays**ual with being as**ual, which is when someone experiences little to no s**ual attraction, though this is far from the case.
Also known as gray-A or gray-ace, it’s very much its own identity in the LGBTQ+ world.
According to WebMD, grays**uality describes people who rarely or barely feel s**ual attraction.
People who identify as grays**ual fit somewhere between being as**ual and being allos**ual, which is a term used to describe those who experience s**ual attraction.
The intensity may be so low that it can be ignored, and it isn’t a necessity in relationships.
According to Healthline, an as**ual person can be defined as someone who experiences little to no ‘s**ual attraction.’
That being, that they rarely find an individual s**ually appealing, though this is different from libido.
Libido is to do with needing to have s** to feel release, almost like scratching an itch, while s**ual attraction focuses more on finding people attractive and wanting to have s** with them.
While grays**uality involves infrequent or low-intensity s**ual attraction, as**uality involves almost none at all.
Demis**ual people experience s**ual attraction via a close emotional bond with someone, which is not the same as experiencing infrequent levels of s**ual attraction from your partner.
This is because demis**ual people can experience intense s**ual attraction often, but only if they can build a relationship with the person first.
Grays**ual people may even find that they feel attraction to people that they don’t have an emotional bond with.
And now, specialist Mark has opened up about their experience being grays**ual, or gray ace, and how it differs from being as**ual, on their popular YouTube channel.
They said: “Having the words to describe these different levels can be really helpful in helping us to communicate how we are and communicate our needs.
“So, the word gray ace is immensely helpful for me because it helps people to understand that, you know what, I do experience attraction.
“I do have s**, I do enjoy s** and I do enjoy s**ual things, s**ual fantasies and so on, but I may experience them to a significantly lower degree than most people would.”
Mark explains that they had a lot of anxiety and trauma after they came out as bis**ual, and it wasn’t until their was able to come to terms with their attraction to people of all genders that they were able to realize their grays**uality.
They added: “It can be difficult for all as**ual people, but for me as a gray ace person, it can be difficult because first of all, people think that you don’t have s**, and that’s not true. It’s really difficult to describe that to friends, family, or people that you meet.
“It’s also really difficult to describe that in dating life because people think ‘Oh wow, he’s not going to be into physical connection, he’s as**ual, I can’t date him,’ that’s not the truth.
“It’s just about the way that I actually experience it, and so I often find myself having to justify myself or having to kind of overexplain it.”
So, while the world often views as**ual people as those who simply don’t enjoy s**, Mark wants to challenge that notion, and explains that they do enjoy s**, they just don’t feel the same desire to constantly have it as other people may.
They concluded: “S** is lovely. S** is really really nice. Physical contact is really really nice, I love it.
“I’ve been lucky enough to have some amazing s** in my life and it’s wonderful but I just don’t have that overwhelming urge, that kind of crazy obsession with it that I see in so many people.”
Mark’s candid discussion has been widely praised online, with many viewers expressing gratitude for his willingness to educate others about grays**uality and share their personal journey, although not everyone has been supportive.
Grays**ual people can experience different forms of attraction, such as being aesthetically attracted, physically attracted, or romantically attracted to potential partners.
They can also form a platonic attraction, more linked to friendships, while emotional attraction can apply to both.
There are also different levels of romantic orientations which apply across all identities, from aromantic, meaning you have no attraction to anyone, all the way to polyromantic, where you’re attracted to people of all genders.
As**ual or grays**ual people may want a romantic relationship, which can still be healthy, though s** may not be as important as it would be to others.
With that being said, it can still be enjoyable for grays**ual people, as you can have s** for fun, to become pregnant, to feel intimacy, or simply to experiment.
There is a difference between attraction and behavior, as you can be attracted to someone without having s**, or vice versa.
The discussion around grays**uality has been growing in recent years.
In 2015, filmmaker Christopher Stoudt created a short film called I’m Grays**ual, featuring a young man named Jared who explained his experience as someone who identifies as both gay and grays**ual.
In the film, Jared described grays**uality as existing in a ‘magical place between as**ual and someone who is s**ual,’ Huffington Post reports.
Jared shared his personal experience: “I used to think I hadn’t met the right person, but I’ve been with a lot of guys and the experience has been very similar — I want to hold them, I want to kiss them, but I don’t want to have s** with them.”
Director Stoudt explained that grays**uals ‘would be happy to never have s** again, as long as they live’ and noted that ‘they like to kiss, they like to snuggle, they like human contact, and might even enjoy m**turbating alone… but they don’t want to have s**.’
Stoudt created the film to reach others who might feel similar but didn’t realize there was a term for their experience, saying it’s ‘a relatively new label that, twenty years ago, might have been written off and discounted… but with the power of the internet today to connect people and bring people together, those who don’t view their s**uality as a black-and-white distinction are able to form a community around a label.’
The video comes at a time when awareness of different orientations is growing, with grays**uality representing an important part of the spectrum that is often misunderstood or overlooked.
S**uality and orientation are fluid, as the 2015 As**ual Census discovered that 80 percent of those surveyed identified under a different orientation before identifying as as**ual.
Related Article: Reason So Many Straight Men Cheat On Their Wives With Other Men
Related Article: Conjoined Twins With Totally Different S**ualities Answer The Questions Everyone’s Always Wanted To Ask
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