Social Justice Usage
From Dictionary.com: Autosexual is a term for sexual attraction to oneself, especially a preference for masturbation over sexual intercourse.
New Discourses Commentary
Within the “street” side of queer Theory and gender Theory (see, gender studies), deriving from Critical Social Justice Theory more broadly, exists a huge pantheon of gender identities and sexual orientations that are not familiar to most people (see also, sex, gender, and sexuality). Among these, is “autosexual,” which refers to sexual attraction to oneself, lack of sexual attraction to others, or, more typically, a preference for masturbation (sometimes: “self sex”) over sexual intercourse. Autosexuality is posited to exist on a “spectrum,” with the fully autosexual end not only exhibiting these traits but also exhibiting a full-blown sexual attraction to oneself that includes masturbating to the thought of oneself and/or fantasizing about having sex with oneself.
In and of itself, this term is unremarkable and merely describes a phenomenon that occurs in the intersection of people’s psychological, social, and sexual lives (and problems) that could be considered morally neutral under liberal ethical systems (live and let live) or potentially concerning under psychiatric medicine (if, say, the result of some unresolved trauma or other psychologically relevant but curable challenge—see also, medicalizing). What makes it more remarkable within Critical Social Justice is that it is described as a sexual orientation, which most people understand to be a largely, if not wholly, stable feature of who one is, at least where sexuality is concerned. Furthermore, as such and following the usual machinations of Theory, it is therefore treated as an identity. Autosexuals, then, are people who are sexually attracted to themselves, prefer masturbation to sexual intercourse, and see this as a quasi-stable and politically relevant feature of who they are (and not who they happen to be).
Though it needn’t be belabored, this last point about the political relevance of such an identity cannot be ignored if our objective is to understand the Critical Social Justice ideology, mindset, and worldview. Autosexuality would be classified as a queer identity that is thus a site of necessary social activism under the instruction of queer Theory (see also, personal is political). Real-world effects of this could include teaching children and teens about autosexuality in sex-education classes and then exploiting any enjoyment of masturbation combined with awkwardness around the idea of genuine sexual intercourse to induce a belief that the child exhibits a queer identity that needs to engage in queer identity politics.
Related Terms
Critical; Gender; Gender identity; Gender studies; Identity; Identity politics; Ideology; Liberal; Medicalizing; Personal is political; Queer; Queer Theory; Sex; Sexuality; Social Justice; Theory; Trauma
Revision date: 11/3/20
4 comments
And here I was thinking it meant people who like to shag in the backseats of cars! Hmm, wonder how long it’ll take for the blue-haired Tumblr kids to make up a name for that phenomenon and claim it makes them special.
Quote: “…[they] see this as a quasi-stable and politically relevant feature of who they are (and not who they happen to be).”
I don’t understand what the difference between “who they are” and “who they happen to be”.
Could you elaborate?
Autosexuals….
SOMETIMES KNOWN AS W*ANKERS.
Surprisingly common in the world of woke…..
Making ones sexuality central to ones identity seems strange to me. I amhetero but it seems quite peripheral to my own sense of who I am