I've identified as asexual for a couple of years; I've told about half a dozen people, though no one in my family. I'm a teenager and quite aware that sexuality is fluid and all that, but during my life so far I have been a person who doesn't experience sexual attraction or have a sex drive and I did a lot of soul searching to arrive at that conclusion. The comfort I've found in the past of having that label to stick on myself worries me a bit. I've been considering identifying as queer, but that seems quite a politicised word. Really, shouldn't I be against labels of this sort altogether, even the accurate ones?

I also used to find comfort in the online ace community, but recently I've been staying away. This is because a substantial number of posts on message boards and LJs seem to be talking about how icky sex is (I think I'm a lot more sex-positive than most people, especially my age!) and the superiority of asexual people. The comparison of asexuals' difficulties to those of the LGBTQ community also annoys me a bit, when you consider that in a lot of countries you still can be killed for loving someone the same gender as you or being born with the wrong biological sex. I don't seek to belittle the many difficulties asexual people face, but it just seems a very inappropriate comparison. Because of these sorts of things I'm a bit reluctant to identify as ace at all.

Also, something else has been playing on my mind - what if this is another facet of my personality that's governed by my depression and anxiety? Will I get over it as I recover? If I don't, will I still be considered "broken" and will people want to "fix" me with hormones and more counselling?

Argh, this is rambly. Anyway, it'd be interesting to hear from anyone else here who identifies/has identified as ace and how that relates to your mental health issues.