No Sex, No Problem

Undated -- David Jay considers himself pretty much an average guy.

"I go to work everyday. I like to workout. I've got a whole slew of friends," says David. Victoria Glancey says she leads a pretty basic life, too. She likes to read, is writing a novel and is excited about her new boyfriend.

"We're incredibly mushy and obnoxious and we drive all our friends crazy," says Victoria.

But while Victoria's gushing affection may seem typical of any budding relationship, there is a difference. She has no interest in having sex, ever! David can understand that. He has no sexual desires either.

"Sex is never a thing that it made sense for me to do," says David.

David and Victoria are part of a growing number of people publicly declaring themselves 'asexual'. David even started an online discussion forum called the Asexual Visibility and Education Network.

"People just started pouring in from all over the world with similar experiences saying, ya know, 'I'm not interested in sexuality; I don't experience sexual attraction," says David.

The group now has more than 4,000 members. They sell T-shirts touting their lifestyle and hand out pamphlets explaining that they're normal and perfectly happy with their lives.

"There are asexual people who are old, who are young, who are male and female," says David. He says some asexuals are happy on their own. Others, like Victoria, are interested in romantic partners, minus the sex.

"I am in a relationship. I met him on the site. He's asexual as well. There's just a level of intimacy there," says Victoria.

Experts say the causes of asexuality are unclear.

"We haven't had any serious empirical or scientific investigation of people with this claim," says Edward Laumann, a human sexuality expert.

Laumann says before people label themselves asexuals, they should first rule out reasons for lack of libido or a dip in desire, like hormone deficiencies and other medical conditions or even deep rooted emotional issues.

"There are plenty of reasons why people become uninterested in sex. They can have a bad love affair, they could have been treated badly," says Laumann.

But both David and Victoria say they feel fine, and know there's nothing about them that needs to be fixed.

"I'd just like everyone to know, ya know, that we're normal, we're not bizarre," says Victoria.

"There's a lot more to life than sexuality", adds David.