Another ace girl, now 22, says that although she enjoys masturbating and is aroused by titillating scenes on screen, the physical act of sex does not excite her. Masturbation to her is a physical function, a body process like eating.

Is it a complicated term for celibacy? No. Celibacy is abstaining from the act of sex even though sexual desire exists. Asexuality, however, is the absence/lack of interest to act on an impulse that may or may not exist.

Sociologist Deepak Mehta, Professor and Head at Shiv Nadar University, says that perhaps some of these orientations stem from the Hindu indoctrination that the kanya, the pure Hindu virgin girl, remains the most divine and pure form of being. He adds that maybe a few of these women want to remain kanya forever, although ace women do not agree that this has anything to do with religion.

Mehta says it is possible that especially in the Indian context, asexuality is not authored individually but bears a strong semblance to the culture the person is born in.

One thing that amuses the asexual community in India is that even though India hates celebrating sex and turns up its nose at sexuality as a topic, it is equally un-accepting of the lack of a sexual impulse. After all, isn’t contained sexuality, the kind that is activated after marriage and for the sole purpose of child-bearing, preferred here?

Ironically, in a society that refuses to embrace its sexually licentious past, asexuals are still finding it difficult to gain acceptance.