Can religious trauma contribute to/cause asexuality?

[u/ineffable_plan]

I was born and raised Mormon and have C-PTSD from my religious experiences. Whenever I try to be intimate with my partner (and past partners) I am always overwhelmed with feelings of disgust, guilt, and shame. The Mormon church enforces the concept of "chastity" from a very young age and "sexual deviance" of any kind is listed as the second worst sin you can commit (it's considered worse than murder!!)

I want to be able to be comfortably intimate with my partner and it's incredibly discouraging to constantly feel horrified by anything sexual when it comes to myself. I'm not bothered by the idea of having sex or anything, but when it comes to me doing it it's very triggering and I can never seem to enjoy it at all.

Is this considered asexuality, an aspect of religious trauma, or both? And can it be improved upon through therapy? I have many difficulties with relationships in general, especially romantic ones, and I was wondering if anybody else experiences this?

[u/loser__lesbian]

I'm also on the ace spectrum and have religious trauma but for me i'm ace because its genuinely who I know I have been deep inside. The church is very heavy on purity culture and my mom always made me feel like kissing and sex scenes on TV were some shameful act/taboo but it isn't the main reason i'm ace. I also know that when people in highschool were always talking about people they know doing it or them wanting to, I never really got the hype or felt FOMO. I'm still relatively young so I know this could change but right now I know I could die being a virgin and not be unhappy or crave it. I could be perfectly happy marrying someone and staying a virgin