A page from the upcoming first issue of the Ace Up My Sleeve zine! I know it doesn’t pertain to all asexuals, but I knew I had to include aromantics in the zine as well.
Thoughts?
(Also, if you reblog or use elsewhere, please credit me, as-fine-as-dandelions.tumblr.com)
Including the series name, character name(s), #ownvoices, on page or word of god, age group, genre, and if other rep is featured. - (Updated 6/30/2019)
Think of it like this. If you’re not asexual and you ever wonder how/why an asexual person might have sex, ask yourself these questions.
Have you had sex with someone you’re not attracted to? Alternatively, do you recognize that people can & do have sex with people they aren’t attracted to?
Then, have you ever had sex with someone you were attracted to for reasons other than, or in addition to, being attracted to them? Or the general, do you recognize that people can & do have sex with people they are attracted to for reasons other than, or in addition to, being attracted to them?
And in those answers there’s the start to the how/why of aces who do have sex.
I feel like every question that starts “can I still be asexual if...” can be easily answered with “yes, our community just sucks sometimes”.
“Can I be asexual and masturbate?” Yes
“Can I be asexual and still have sex?” Yes
“Can I be asexual and have kinks/fetishes?” Yes
“Can I...” Yes.
Someone once asked me if they could still be asexual if they got boners and had wet dreams. YES. Of course! And I’m sorry you felt like you had to ask that. Both of those things are natural and a part of puberty for people with penises and it has nothing to do with your sexuality.
The asexual community is exiled enough from the rest of the LGBTQ+ community (because asexuals/aromantics ARE a part of the community) so why do we exile so many asexuals?
Allosexual people have sex with people they’re not attracted to in any way, and it’s considered, at most, crass, but it’s not shocking. Ace people can’t even have sex with people they are emotionally attracted to and in a relationship with without it being a Thing.
Unicorn March is all about pride for the most forgotten and endangered parts of the community.
Sometimes, pride means knowing more about the struggles that people like you face. Pride from within, from knowing what you’re surviving. Pride from other community members and outsiders, supporting you and loving you for what you are, not just what you overcome.
This infographic collects all the current data on ace-spec oppression into one thread. (It exceeds Tumblr’s image limit, so if you’re only seeing the first post, check the notes for the rest.) Feel free to save any of these images to share. Tag @unicorn-march if you can, when you use these in a reply or your own posts; it would be great to see how this info helps people. Image descriptions are in the alt tags.
The Williams Institute. (2016) LGB Within the T. This paper crunches the data from the 2011 National Transgender Discrimination Survey, which did in-depth interviews of 6,450 trans people of all orientations.
Bauer et al (2018). The 2016 Asexual Community Survey Summary Report. This is an ongoing annual online survey of major asexual communities; the 2016 survey received a total of 9,869 responses (Ace = 9331 and Non-Ace= 538). As it’s not a peer-reviewed published study, it’s used even more sparingly here; the only data used here from this report is the percentage of cis aces who had considered suicide.
A fellow activist asked me to boost this A-spec Experiences Survey. The survey is being conducted by ACT Aces, an asexuality social and advocacy group in Canberra, Australia. Open to all ages and locations.