“I’m not concerned with being ‘attractive’”: A qualitative study of positive body image in asexual adults in an allonormative society.

Although body image scholars are increasingly centering marginalised communities in their research, individuals who identify as asexual or on the asexual spectrum remain largely invisible in this work. To overturn this, we explored understandings and experiences of positive body image in asexual adults using reflective thematic analysis. One-to-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 asexual adults (five woman-identifying, six man-identifying, four identifying as gender diverse or non-binary; aged 20 to 45 years) from the United Kingdom. Our analyses revealed four themes that illustrate the core characteristics of positive body image in our participants: Appreciating and Respecting the Body; Body Authenticity; Body and Self-Acceptance; and Countering Aesthetic Norms. Our findings suggest that, while some aspects of positive body image in asexual individuals reflect similarities with other communities, the challenges of heteronormativity and allonormativity mean that asexual individuals sometimes rely on unique processes to develop and maintain positive body image. Further research with this marginalised community is necessary to better understand how journeys towards asexual identities can foster more positive body image, and what this may mean for allonormative societies.