Question of the Week: May 21st, 2013

This is the Question of the Week, a way to stimulate conversation.  It occurs every Tuesday.

Imagine that you’re an evil overlord.  What will you do once you finally take over the world?

The first thing I would do, of course, is steal Christmas.  Not like the Grinch, but like Jack Skellington.  I’d steal everything, and replace it with stuff played in a minor key.  Hahaha!  And then I’d make it all polymetric, especially the dance music.  I guess I’d really be some sort of musical evil overlord.

Journal Club: Prause and Graham 2007

Last week, we discussed “Asexuality: classification and characterization,” a 2007 paper by Nicole Prause and Cynthia Graham.

The asexual community is a terrible place to hide from your sexuality

A while back there was this big kerfuffle on tumblr* about how aces are secretly harmful to LGB folks.  One of the main arguments was that LGB folks have internalized heterosexism, and thus use the asexual community to hide from their sexuality.  Now, I’m not really interested in getting into the whole “are aces harmful to LGB folks” debate, because that thing is a can of worms–a can of flesh-eating, fire-breathing, radioactive worms, that is.  But the idea of hiding from one’s sexuality in the ace community had me raising my eyebrows so far that they were practically flying off my face, and all I could think was, Have you ever spent any time in the ace community?  If I wanted to hide from my sexuality, the asexual community is the last place I’d go.  Here’s why:

Become a contributor to The Asexual Agenda

It’s that time again!  The Asexual Agenda is looking for new bloggers.

The Asexual Agenda is not a 101 blog, and is not a visibility effort.  It is a blog written by ace-spectrum people, for ace-spectrum people, at a level that is higher than what you find in the news.  We talk about experiences, identity politics, intersectionality, academic research, asexual activism, and anything else you like.

Expectations:

If you become a contributor, I expect you to correspond with us by e-mail, and I expect you to write on occasion.  You decide what to write about on your own.

How to apply:

To apply, please e-mail us at asexualagenda@gmail.com by May 31st.  Briefly (in ~100 words) tell us about yourself, and why you’d like to contribute.  Also include a writing sample (300-1000 words), something that would be suitable to publish on The Asexual Agenda.

The application process is not meant to be difficult or intimidating.  In past experience, most rejections have been because applicants did not know what the blog was about.  Please look at our site to get an idea.

Guest posts:

If you can’t contribute regularly, we are always open for guest posts.  Please e-mail us at asexualagenda@gmail.com.

Linkspam: May 17th, 2013

Every Friday, we will share links to news, blogs, and anything else we find interesting.  We can’t catch everything, so you are invited to self-promote in the comments!

Someone made a short film called (A) Sexual Story.  (Warnings: lots of cursing, sexual assault)

Carlin writes about the The Medical Center for Female Sexuality’s informational pages on low libido and sexual desire.

A Life Unexamined has thoughts on a fictional asexual/allosexual relationship.

There’s a survey on LGBTQ people in STEM fields going around, and they’re explicitly interested in asexual experiences, too.

Critique of Popular Reason has some tips for leaving a sexless relationship (tactfully).

College Magazine posted an article on asexual dating.

An article about asexuality was published in a Norwegian newspaper.

Asexual Journal Club: Johnson 1977

Last week, we discussed “Asexual and autoerotic women: two invisible groups,” a 1977 paper by Myra T. Johnson.

Question of the Week: May 14th, 2013

Northerners, do you have any exciting summer plans? Southerners, any exciting winter plans?