#sexology

#sexology

Asexuality as a sexual orientation reaches back to the first humans. But as an area of scientific study, it's relatively new. And its orientation cousin, aromanticism, is even newer on the scene: The first documented references to asexual-related behaviors appeared in the mid-19th century. One such reference came from Prussian human rights activist and journalist Karl Maria Kertbeny, in a 1869 pamphlet in which he coined the terms "homosexual" and "heterosexual." He referred to people who pleasure themselves primarily as "monosexuals."