Linkspam: December 3rd, 2021

On Fridays, 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!

Ace Blogging

Blue-Ice Tea reviewed A Taste of Honey (1961).

Ebony Purks wrote about issues POC aces face both inside and outside the community.

Coyote discussed why academics keep on recruiting participants from AVEN.

News & Outreach

Smangaliso Simelane praised the change to how Death Stranding handled asexuality.

Aro Blogging

The October Carnival of Aros was published, on the theme “Friendship“.  The December Carnival of Aros is looking for submissions on the theme “Attitudes towards Romance“.

Carnival of Aces: Inside the Frame, Outside the Frame

The Carnival of Aces for November has been posted by vacant.  The theme was “Inside the Frame, Outside the Frame“.  Please take a look!

The next Carnival of Aces is being hosted by Ettina.  The theme for December is “Children and Childhood”.  Get your submissions in before the end of the month!

The Carnival of Aces is hosted by volunteers each month.  If you would like to volunteer, please see the masterpost for instructions.  There currently isn’t any volunteer for next month.

Journal Club: “Sex” and the Ace Spectrum

This month, the ace journal club discussed

“‘Sex’ and the Ace Spectrum: Definitions of Sex, Behavioral Histories, and Future Interest for Individuals Who Identify as Asexual, Graysexual, or Demisexual” by Jessica J. Hille, Megan K. Simmons, & Stephanie A. Sanders (2020). https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00224499.2019.1689378 (Requires journal access)

The journal club meets once a month on Discord, using text or voice as club members prefer. We discuss a variety of academic works in ace studies, ranging from gender studies to psychology. Don’t worry about journal access, we can provide access. If you’re interested, please e-mail me at asexualagenda@gmail.com for an invite.

Our discussion notes are below the fold.

Linkspam: November 5th, 2021

On Fridays, 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!

Ace Blogging

TAAAP had one more set of interviews with demi and gray aces.

AceAdmiral wrote about a condescending academic paper, and what we can learn from it.

Community Activity

Yasmin, Swankivy, and others will be on a panel “Beyond Awareness: Creating a Space for Asexual and Aromantic People” on November 9th.

News & Outreach

Unicode rejected the ace flag emoji proposal, and is apparently no longer accepting proposals for any identity flags.

Aro Community Activity

Aggressively Arospectacular is occurring November 7-13.

The Aro Zine was released.

There’s a summary of results from the Allo Aro Survey.

Calls for Participants/Support

Spoons is a planned web series currently looking for support.

Carnival of Aces: Attraction

The Carnival of Aces for October has been posted by sildarmillion.  The theme was “Attraction“.  sildarmillion also took the opportunity to summarize the themes that appeared in the carnival as well as in past carnivals with similar themes!  Please take a look!

The next Carnival of Aces is being hosted by Vacant.  The theme for November is “Inside the Frame, Outside the Frame”.  Get your submissions in before the end of the month!

The Carnival of Aces is hosted by volunteers each month.  If you would like to volunteer, please see the masterpost for instructions.

What even is attraction? A constructionist view

This is a submission to the October 2021 Carnival of Aces on “Attraction”.

Within ace and aro communities, “attraction” is a concept that receives a great deal of attention. It’s in the definitions after all–or at least, some of the definitions. There are always lots of people asking, “Am I asexual?” or “Am I aromantic?”, and if people are being appropriately respectful, they’ll answer “Only you can answer that,” and then how is it that you answer this question for yourself? You go look at the definitions, and then think way too hard about what attraction even is.

I went through that journey too, but at this point, I have little personal investment in defining “attraction”. I’m in a committed monogamous relationship, and at that point, our wants and needs can be privately communicated without reliance on “attraction” language, or even any language that would make sense to anyone but ourselves. To me it’s more like a familiar old riddle, often accompanied by a slightly newer riddle: Does it even matter?

Linkspam: October 29th, 2021

On Fridays, 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!

Ace Blogging

TAAAP had more interviews on sex and kink, romance, disabilities and neurodivergence, parenting, and religion.

Coyote compiled some links on community conversations on attitudes towards sex.

Virtual Book Clubs

The October Great Ace Club read is The Stroke of Thirteen by Carrie Gessner.
The October Ace Race round 2 reading challenge wraps up soon.

News & Outreach

Julie Kliegman wrote about the lack of asexual representation on TV, and interviewed Yasmin Benoit.

Linkspam: October 26th, 2021

During Ace Week, we get a high volume of links, so we have more than one linkspam!  Still, we can’t catch everything, so feel free to share anything else you find, or self-promote.

Ace Blogging

quietnqueer has some questions for formulating an asexual feminism.

coyote compiled a bunch of links on ace media analysis and meta-commentary.

TAAAP had some short interviews with aces of color, men and masculine-aligned aces, and older aces.

Isabelle Brown reviewed ace representation in TV.

Community Activity

The Ace Community Survey is open for responses.  The 2019 summary report has been released.

There’s an Ace Activism Panel Discussion on October 30th, 11 AM PDT.  Siggy is a panelist.

Ace Week has a list of events hosted around the world.

Swankivy is having a live Ace Week discussion on October 29th.

redbeard published their novel with multiple endings, You Are Asexual.

The Asian Network of Aspec Queer Activists (ANOAQA) is holding a symposium, with videos available.

News & Outreach

GameRant discussed the representation of Parvati Holcomb.

Journal Club: What does Orientation Orient?

This month, the ace journal club discussed

“What does Sexual orientation Orient? A Biobehavioral Model Distinguishing Romantic Love and Sexual Desire” by Lisa M. Diamond (2003). https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0033-295X.110.1.173 (Requires journal access)

The journal club meets once a month on Discord, using text or voice as club members prefer. We discuss a variety of academic works in ace studies, ranging from gender studies to psychology. Don’t worry about journal access, we can provide access. If you’re interested, please e-mail me at asexualagenda@gmail.com for an invite.

Our discussion notes are below the fold.

Linkspam: October 22nd, 2021

On Fridays, 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!

Ace Blogging

Rowan Ellis talked about asexual representation on screen (video).

aspecofstardust has slides from an asexual community history presentation.

Community Activity

Panacea is an Asexuality Asia conference, being held on Ace Week, from October 24th to 31st.  Check out their program and register.