One of the reasons I think The Asexual Agenda has declined in relevance, is that we never really addressed The Discourse.
By “The Discourse” I refer to the ongoing flame war that has consumed ace communities on Tumblr. To learn more about The Discourse and its history, I recommend this article on aro-soulmate-project and the links therein, all of which I found via jotdancing. The short version: The Discourse is about a group of people who are basically like TERFs, but antagonistic to ace and aro people. Precursors to The Discourse date back to 2010, but many people trace the current iteration to 2015, when it was likely sparked by The Trevor Project deciding to include ace people.
The Discourse is obviously important, from several perspectives. First, it’s important to the people who have actively been involved in the flame war, people who witness it on a regular basis, and even people who hear about it incidentally or second-hand. It’s important to all the ace communities that have been shaped by The Discourse. And finally, The Discourse is a forecast of the future. Ace activists of my generation have long speculated that after fighting ace invisibility, we might end up fighting ace antagonism. Such speculation seems much more concrete nowadays.
Some people have referred to The Asexual Agenda as a refuge from The Discourse. But if we’re a refuge, it’s only by accident. Why haven’t we talked about The Discourse?
