Welcome to our sub! Here are some basics on asexuality. Some of these descriptions use the pronoun "I" because I don't want to speak for anyone else's experience. However, I'm confident that this will ring true for LOTS of asexuals, and is fairly general based on aces I've communicated with. Other asexuals can share their thoughts here

-I can think someone is pretty or handsome or what have you, but none of that leads me thinking about sex with them, or wanting it.-Basically, NOTHING makes me want to have sex with a person. Lots of regular people can be turned on by voice, personality, actions, and a whole list of other things. Nothing will ever make me feel like wanting to have sex with someone. I don't desire intercourse, and frankly, I don't care for it. If I never had it again for the rest of my life, that's totally fine with me.

-Asexuals can still experience physical arousal. Sometimes, this stuff can be involuntary and happen for no reason. For some aces, the machinery still operates, so to speak, but there is no desire to do the deed with a person, nor is there any sexual attraction at play. That being said, an asexual can still have sex. They just won't desire it. It may feel weird to them, it may feel absolutely disgusting, or it may feel boring. To draw a comparison, there are gay men who feel compelled to marry women because they're not "allowed" to come out, and they have children. That man is still gay.

- If Heterosexual is "attracted to and enjoys sex with opposite sex", and homosexual is "same", and bi is "both", then ace is "none."-Labels like demisexual and graysexual are totally real. They're just not asexual. Those two labels typically describe a much more muted experience with sexuality and sexual attraction. Graysexual was originally developed as a catch-all phrase for "not sure where I stand between asexual and allosexual".

-Asexuality is not a disorder, and it's not a hormonal imbalance. It's true that some medications can cause a significant drop in libido, but that is something else. Asexuality is a valid orientation, much like the others (and a growing body of research is suggesting more and more that it's like other orientations). Although, it is a little different than the others, since it's "the orientation that isn't", if that makes sense. Kind of like calling "off" a TV channel. But in the brain, it still very much is an orientation.

-The main function of asexual communities is to find support from like-minded people. One of the biggest problems asexuals face is feeling broken or that there is something wrong with them that needs fixing (as a guy, I can definitely attest to this). And that's not true! Asexuals are just as valid as anyone else. Another problem that some aces have faced, unfortunately, is corrective r*pe. Aces don't need fixing. That is one of the reasons that we take issue (in this sub) with people saying "but aces can still like sex!" all the time. It gets people thinking aces can change if they try hard enough.

-Romanticism: some aces are romantic, and some are aromantic.