Despite more and more people becoming aware of the expansive variety of sexual orientations out there, asexuality remains widely unknown and unexplored in popular culture.

An asexual -- or ace -- is someone who does not experience sexual attraction. Unlike celibacy, which AVEN, the Asexual Visibility and Eduction Network, notes, people choose, "asexuality is an intrinsic part of who [they] are" and asexual people "have the same emotional needs as everybody else and are just as capable of forming intimate relationships."

To learn more about what it means to be asexual and how asexuals' lives differ from people who feel and express sexual attraction, HuffPost Love+Sex Podcast co-hosts Carina Kolodny and Noah Michelson chatted with Joseph, a 19-year-old asexual living in Florida; Bauer, the founder of the asexual meet-up group Aces NYC and the Aces Wild YouTube channel; and Anthony Bogaert, the author of "Understanding Asexuality" and a professor of health sciences and psychology at Brock University:

The HuffPost Love+Sex podcast is produced by Katelyn Bogucki and edited by Nick Offenberg. Production assistance and design is provided by Lauren Bell.

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PHOTO GALLERY Lesser Known Sexual And Romantic Identities