Linkspam: September 22nd, 2017

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!

Ace Blogging

Michael Paramo considers the question of who is oppressed enough to be “queer enough”.

Asexuality Archive has posted the first parts of his new series, Maybe I’m Not Really Asexual, Because…: An Exploration of Doubts.

Ace Community Activity

fuckyeahasexual released their fourth annual Asexuals in Fiction list.

Ela Przybylo has shared the syllabus for their class on Asexualities and Critical Nonsexualities, and Starchythoughts is organizing a discussion group for those interested in following along and discussing the listed readings.

fuckyeahasexual is compiling an ace-friendly therapists master list.

News & Outreach

Ace Los Angeles has revealed that they have been officially consulting for “Bojack Horsemen” season 4, where the character Todd officially comes out as asexual and later attends an ace meetup group.

Madison Ace Space is fundraising to support their group activities with some neat ace and aro button deals.

Calls for Participants/Submissions

An interviewee is wanted for a short documentary on asexuality.

Question of the Week: September 19th, 2017.

Which fictional/historical characters do you headcanon as ace and why?

Florence Nightingale is my historical hero.  Sure she was a nurse (like me!)  but also she was a smart, curious, and motivated woman, who was interested in doing things the smart way, and doing whatever it takes to get things done.  She was considered a bitch by many bc she was forthright and stubborn, but also knew how to turn on the charm when it’s what she needed to get things done.  She also basically created statistics.  

And I think she was aroace.  Not just because she never had a partner, or any significant relationships.  She did have several close meaningful friendships.  Some of them could have definitely turned into romantic relationships.  One almost ended up in her being engaged.  But it didn’t because Flo felt like there was ‘something missing’.  She didn’t understand why people wanted to get married, or be partnered.  She felt like there was some missing quality that other people had that she didn’t.  So she ignored all that stuff and fought the society that wanted her to be a good little stay at home woman and went off to be kick arse instead and I love her.

Who do you headcanon as ace?  Are there clues that make you think that or are they just great characters that ended up without romances?

 

Question of the Week: September 12th, 2017.

Do you integrate self care into your life, and if so, what works for you? 

I’ve seen self-care and activism come up a few times in the ace community, most notably in the February 2017 Carnival of Aces on Resistance, Activism, and Self-Care.  Even though we talk about self care, actually doing self care feels very isolated for me. Self care is like turning off your cell phone and venturing into a dark forest to leave “the world” behind and nurture parts of yourself that can only be nurtured in mysterious silent places. Partly this is true because my self care does involve walks in the forest, but it is also metaphorical, in that I can’t imagine doing self care while in “the world” (whatever that is).

Linkspam: September 8th, 2017

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!

Ace Blogging

aceadmiral writes about the concept of asexuality making room for people who want to opt out of sex.

adventures-in-asexuality writes about how the demands of activism can impact the most vulnerable members of communities.

Sennkestra discussed asexual prevalency in the ACHA NCHA II results.

News & Outreach

Moses Sumney, an alternative/indie music artist, is releasing an album titled Aromanticism later this month.  Fader magazine has an interview and single.

Calls for Participants/Submissions

Asexual Artists is looking for more interviewees.

Applications are open for the Spring 2018 Asexual Scholarship.

Question of the Week: September 5th, 2017.

What’s your favorite book/movie/webcomic/etc with one or more officially asexual characters?

I know this is a cliched question, but I’m still really curious, and I think sharing resources and representation are always valuable. Mine are ‘This song is (not) for you’ about two allo kids and an ace kid in a band, and about how they manage their deepening friendships and various attractions. The other is ‘Tash hearts Tolstoy’ about a group of friends who produce a youtube adaptation of Anna Karenina. The main character is a heteroromantic ace, so a lot of the plot is about how her sexuality affects her friendships and love interest.

I’m also VERY excited for Mackenzi Lee’s next novel, which will feature a SUPER KICK ARSE surgeon/pirate woman who is *probably* ace. The author has not confirmed for sure (bc spoilers :p), but there is some very ace relatable content in the first book Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue. I didn’t *actually* enjoy that book, because I found the two main characters constantly pining for each others bodies extremely off putting, but I think the sequel will be spectacular.

What are your favourite ace characters? I specified canon ace bc (spoilers) next fortnight’s question will be who do you headcanon as ace.

Carnival of Aces: Asexuality and Academia

The Carnival of Aces for August has been posted on Asexual Research.  The theme was “Asexuality and Academia“.  Please take a look!

The next Carnival of Aces is being hosted by Valprehension.  The theme for September is “Messages to Ace Exclusionists”.  Get your submissions in before the end of the month!

Note that the Carnival of Aces is hosted by volunteers.  If you would like to volunteer, please see the masterpost for instructions.  Currently we do not have any volunteers lined up for next month.

Linkspam: September 1st, 2017

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!

Ace Blogging

Acefilmreviews has posted a summary of their findings after finishing their Master’s degree research into the history of “romance” from an asexual perspective.

Angryelves critiques Antisocial, an m/m novel with a gray-ace major character and an aroace non-binary side character.

Ace book reviewer justlovereviews interviews author Cassandra Clare about the decision to include queer rep (including an asexual character) in their books, which are currently being adapted for TV.

Cathy Tea talks about people finding themselves in The Sims.

Ace Community Activity

The Summer 2017 “Pride” themed issue of AVENues is now available.

A new therapy group for asexuals is opening in San Francisco.

News & Outreach

A recently released Routledge “Sex in the Digital Age” anthology features a lengthy chapter on asexuality and AVEN.

A new bachelor’s thesis has been released that analyzes the “Theoretical Origins and Persistance of Asexuality in Humans” from the perspective of evolutionary biology.

Divercity productions produced a short film about asexuality (content warning: some nsfw scenes)