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🔎 Who Was The Very First Asexual Person?

tracing the oft-overlooked threads of asexuality throughout human history...

Author

K Anderson
April 04, 2025

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Hey you

Let's start our day off with a huge, expansive, headache-inducing philosophical question: is it ok to speculate about a historical figure's sexuality or gender identity?

That's the question I've been wrestling with this week whilst piecing together the evidence that will help me respond to the impossible-to-answer question: 'who was the world's first asexual person?'. 

And with International Asexuality Day coming up on April 6th (that’s this Sunday!), it feels like the perfect time to wade into this complex subject.

On one hand, why not? We routinely assume people from history were straight and cisgender unless there’s overwhelming evidence otherwise. Why should heterosexuality be the default? Shouldn't we be just as open to exploring other possibilities?

But, then again…. hmm… isn’t it a bit icky to impose our contemporary understanding of the world and human identity on someone who lived in completely different social contexts and never had the chance to define themselves in their own terms?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this - scroll down to answer my latest poll: In a historical context, is it okay to speculate about someone’s identity?

Ok, enough from me - shall we journey through the hidden history of asexuality together?

k

P.S. If you’re watching this season of The White Lotus I’d LOVE to hear your predictions for the finale! Who is going to die? Who is going to survive? How will we wait a whole year for another season?

QUEER WORD
ASEXUAL

What it means:

experiencing little or no sexual attraction to others. People who are asexual (often handily shortened to ‘ace’) may still experience romantic attraction and have fulfilling relationships, but they don't feel sexual desire in the way others might.

Let’s use it in a sentence:

the asexual pirate has no interest in your booty.

A little bit of history:

So, there are some people (including some from within our own community) who are… let’s say…. skeptical… about the existence of asexual people.

If you’ve ever been engaged in a conversation with them you’ll no doubt recognise some of their common talking points:

  • they didn't have this in my day!

  • why are there all of these asexual people all of a sudden?

  • they must just be confused!

  • clearly it’s just a phase!

Maybe you’ve challenged them. Maybe you’ve been too exhausted to engage. Maybe you’ve even had similar thoughts yourself. Where ARE all these asexual people coming from?

Well, actually, they’ve been here the whole time.

The history of asexuality is as old and as messy and glorious as any other identity. But we just happen to live in a world that relentlessly reinforces a heteronormative outlook, making it hard for ace people to live openly. That, and we haven’t always had the language to properly describe their experiences.

But traces of this identity exist throughout history, if we know where to look.

I knew that I wanted to talk about asexuality this week to mark International Asexuality Day, but I didn’t want to write something straightforward and boring like ‘the history of asexuality’. Instead, I set out to answer an audacious question:

Who was the world’s first asexual person?

Now, obviously I recognise that this is an unanswerable, preposterous question - just as we could never definitively identify the first lesbian or the first trans-man. No single person can be pinpointed as the ‘first’ to embody any identity.

I also know how deeply flawed our limited historical records are - overwhelmingly focussed on Western, white, cis-gendered, wealthy perspectives - so even if I DID find compelling evidence about a historical figure, the limitations of available documentation make an conclusion tentative at best.

And, then, beyond these practical challenges lies the ethical question of applying contemporary terms to historical figures who never had access to our modern understanding of identity - a treacherous, treacherous terrain.

Still, I love me a bold question, and even if there’s no way to find a definitive answer I knew I’d enjoy the rabbit holes it would lead me down.

So, here, for your consideration, is my list of possible candidates:

Károly Mária Kertbeny was a Hungarian journalist and human rights advocate who is best known for coining the term ‘homosexuality’ in 1869. In the same pamphlet in which he first shared this term he also coined another term, ‘monosexuality’, which referred to people who only masturbate. Could he have been describing himself?

Verdict: Unlikely. Though he never stated his sexuality, he did claim to be ‘normally sexed’ (whatever that means), and his diaries list a string of encounters with young men.

Then there’s Emma Trosse, a German writer and early sexual reformist who, in 1897, provided what is believed to be the first formal definition of asexuality (though she called it ‘asensuality’). She argued that asexuality was neither abnormal nor an exception, but simply another variation of human experience. Was she drawing from personal experience?

Verdict: Hard to say here. Emma was married to a man and had children with him, which isn’t necessarily proof either way, but makes it hard to call.

What about Magnus Hirschfeld, the pioneering German sexologist who, throughout his career, found a way to categorise pretty much every sexual identity? He described people who experienced no sexual attraction as having ‘anæsthesia sexualis.’

Sure, it sounds like something you might need to take antibiotics for, but it was one of the first attempts to acknowledge asexuality in scientific terms. Could it have been his way to categorise himself?

Verdict: Nope. Magnus was openly gay.

And let’s not forget Anton Szandor LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan, who was also sometimes referred to as ‘the evilest man in the world’ (quite a title!).

He had this to say in his 1969 book The Satanic Bible: ‘Satanism condones any type of sexual activity which properly satisfies your individual desires – be it heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, or even asexual’. Was this openness hinting at his own sexuality?

Verdict: Probably not ace. He had multiple relationships and children, so it’s safe to assume he experienced sexual attraction (but it’s nice to finally find a religion that is so welcoming!).

Now, it’s here in my research where things start to get particularly murky. That’s right, we’re in the problematic-speculation-zone, considering people who never made any mention of sexuality, but who historians or internet sleuths believe COULD have been asexual.

🔎 Isaac Newton. The man revolutionised physics but never seemed too fussed about romance or sex. Was he asexual? Or just really into falling apples? We’ll never know.

🔎 Elizabeth I of England, also lovingly (?) known as the ‘Virgin Queen’. She famously avoided marriage and romantic entanglements throughout her reign. Political strategy? Asexuality? Something else? History offers interesting hints, but no definitive answers.

🔎 Nikola Tesla, who famously declared that celibacy was essential to his scientific success. Was he genuinely uninterested in sex, or just practicing abstinence for what he perceived as intellectual benefits? Again, history doesn't give us enough to go on.

So, no, I may not have figured out who the very first asexual person was, but I did reaffirm one thing:

asexual people have always existed.

They’ve been scientists, writers, activists, and everyday people quietly living their lives in societies that didn’t have the language - or the cultural comprehension - to understand them.

But that doesn’t make them any less valid, any less real, or any less worthy of recognition in our understanding of history.

And, no, they didn’t just spring up all of a sudden. The seemingly recent increase in visibility isn't because asexuality is trendy or new - it's because we finally have the language, understanding, and spaces for people to recognise and express this aspect of themselves.

But now I want to hear from you - did I commit a cardinal sin speculating on the sexuality of people long gone? Or is there value in reimagining history through a more inclusive lens that acknowledges the full spectrum of human experience? Share your thoughts in this week's poll below! 👇️ 

POLL: In a historical context, is it okay to speculate about someone’s identity?

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Last week’s poll

Last week, when grappling with the testimony of ex-gay people, I asked ‘how should the LGBTQ+ community respond to ex-gay narratives?’.

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And there were plenty of thoughts to go with it:

📢 J: Since we know sexual orientation is on a spectrum I would assume that anyone who identifies as heterosexual it is how they see themselves at this moment in time. BUT I’m prolly calling bullshit internally. :)

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