Welcome back once again!

This week we will discuss and analyze: "Reconsidering Asexuality and Its Radical Potential" by CJ DeLuzio Chasin. This post hopes to introduce a different perspective on asexuality and how it can resonate with others. Today's source introduces a few ideas about asexuality as an umbrella term. Chasin also explores the different implications of asexuality and its potential. I will provide a lengthy analysis and interpretation of today's source, in case it is unavailable to the public. However, if you have access to an institution, I highly recommend exploring it and forming your interpretation!

Chasin expresses that the term asexuality and its definition is not what made him identify as such. It was rather the community of people who shared similar experiences. He discusses how there should be a more distinguished difference between asexuality and Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder (HSDD). His main argument is that the defining line between asexuality and potential psychiatric disorders related to external factors is problematic. 

Chasin notes the community of the Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN). This network was founded in 2001 and created online spaces for asexual individuals and groups. After some review, AVEN is a great source for those who want to learn more and connect with other asexual individuals to share experiences. It is a great source to gain a better understanding of asexuality and has multiple frequently asked question categories for different types of relationships. Chasin then discusses how networks and websites like AVEN show that asexuality is broader than what most people would think or believe. For example, gray-sexual or demisexual individuals fit under the asexual umbrella, but their experiences differ from the universal experience of asexuality. In other words, asexuality is a spectrum or scale just like most things we know. 

In the latter half of Chasin’s piece, I found a few concepts interesting and relevant to the discussion. For one, the idea that asexuality is a lifelong sexuality. Knowledge of asexuality in historical and modern contexts is still fairly limited. This concept means that most do not know with certainty that asexuality is a lifelong sexuality because sexuality is often fluid. He also discusses that there is not one way to be asexual or to present as a “real” asexual. This common misconception has proven to be incorrect. Asexuality is often “undermined, misunderstood, and undervalued” by a society that could care less about growing and understanding something deemed out of the normal. However, like all sexualities, there is no right or wrong way to be asexual, but society has made it out to be only one way.

Chasin also discussed the implications of heteronormativity on the asexual community and society as a whole. Heteronormativity challenges asexuality and takes away visibility to the asexual community. However, asexuality challenges the idea and assumption that humans are sexual beings, which makes it harder to advocate for in the long run. Society sticks to "safe" definitions to avoid any strong ideologies. This can be interpreted as a means to avoid confrontation and conflict since asexuality is a newer idea and faces more resistance to accept it as a sexuality over a disorder.

Out of Chasin’s entire article, I found one particular section interesting, and maybe you will too! He stated that it is common for people to think of two concepts of asexuality: 1. A lifelong asexual who is happy with their asexuality. 2. A non-asexual person is upset by their lack of sexual desire. Although these are the two most thought of scenarios, he presents the counterargument of each: 3. An asexual upset over their lack of sexual desire. 4. A non-asexual content with their lack of sexual desire. He explains in detail the differences between real-life scenarios in which all concepts are applicable. The examples provided by him are intriguing and offer a new perspective on how asexuality can be represented and experienced. Additionally, they show how certain stereotypes can be harmful to the asexual community.

To conclude this detailed post, Chasin discusses the matter of depression on sexual desires. It is common for those with depression to lack sexual desire, whether due to the depression itself or medications. This was documented in the past with women who were depressed and heavily medicated. These medications heavily influenced sexual desire and left women with the pressure to continue with sexual behaviors despite a lack of sexual desire. This effect ties into the challenge of heteronormativity placed by societal standards, which placed pressure to be in a heterosexual relationship. Women often feel the need to engage in sexual contact because of this, and men feel the pressure of expectation to 'be a man'. Chasin also discusses how the ideals of feminism and the asexual community often align or overlap in goals of normalizing being sexual and non-sexual. The end goal will be to educate the masses and shift societal perspectives.  

This week's resource had a lot to unpack. The information presented was very insightful, and I learned new things about asexuality, which helped me find comfort in knowing that there is no right or wrong way to experience it. As always, this post is a continuation of asexuality in a historical and modern context. The significance of asexuality will continue to be explored and analyzed in the following posts. Thank you for following along, and feel free to share your insights!

Bibliography:

Asexuality.org. “The Asexual Visibility and Education Network | Asexuality.org,” 2024. https://www.asexuality.org/.

CJ DeLuzio Chasin. “Reconsidering Asexuality and Its Radical Potential.” Feminist Studies 39, no. 2 (2013): 405–26. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23719054.

Welcome back!

Today I will discuss “CHAPTER IV Gender and Asexuality in Academic Sources” by Petra Filipová. Today's post will shine a light on how asexuality has been addressed in the past. Following the outline of the previous post, I will provide a summary of the material as it may not be accessible to the public. I highly recommend exploring this source if you have access through your school, university, or other means. It references several resources that go into great depths of today's material and are beneficial in an academic stance and in personal interest.

Richard von Krafft-Ebing provided research or a study on sexualities. in doing so, he considered asexuality and physical/sexual dysfunction and gave it the term anaesthesia sexualis meaning the lack of sexual feeling. It was not considered a sexual identity and was often treated as a physical illness. Outside of this, asexuality, along with other sexualities, were diagnosed as mental illnesses. There were strides made to find a link between sexuality/sexual behaviors and mental illness. Such treatments and diagnoses were apparent in and around the 1880's (Krafft-Ebing published his research in 1886).

Filipová then addresses Alfred Kinsey and the Kinsey Reports. As a refresher or as newly learned information for some, the Kinsey Reports were made to create a scale of sexuality from 0 to 6, 0 being completely heterosexual and 6 being completely homosexual. Asexuality had no place on this scale and Kinsey made it its own category termed "X". One way to look at this is alienation of a group of people, which fed into the negative connotations of asexuality known today. After a later review, the Kinsey Report showed that women were more likely to be asexual compared to men.

Although there is no clear data on why this is, this source does provide some assumptions or speculations. The main argument was how societal pressures were presented during different historical points. It was often expected for men and women to be 'coupled up'. Women were most likely expected to engage in romantic and intimate relationships with men as our society has always been heavily heteronormative.

One particularly intriguing section is Asexuality in Diagnostics. This section discusses how our society was and is considered hypersexual. Continuing the discussion from above, asexuality was deemed a mental disorder as well as a sexual disorder. The diagnoses within the diagnostics were different for men and women. They were put on a scale of asexuality where women were assumed to experience "a lifelong lack of sexual desire". Whereas men were expected to eventually "be a man" and be sexual. In the past and the present we see the expectation of men to be sexual because that is what defines a man in the eyes of our society.

This chapter also has a section on discourse on asexuality. I encourage you to take a look if you have access as there are multiple discourses regarding the study and understanding of asexuality. For those who may not have access to the material, I will provide a brief summary of the section. The many surveys and other discourse material had flaws that were not taken into account to create fully reliable data. Certain studies did not take into account other gender identities such as non-binary. This mistake left out a potentially key group in their demographics. Filipová includes one study done by Brotto and Yule in 2011 the ‘Physiological and Subjective Sexual Arousal in Self-Identified Asexual Women’. I want to specifically mention this study because it is different and addresses a matter that some may not consider. Brotto and Yule hypothesized that regardless of sexual orientation, women would experience sexual arousal from an erotic film. The concluding results of the study proved that their hypothesis was true. They stated that asexuality is not a lack of sexual arousal but rather a difference in sexual response. These results show that asexuality is less of a dysfunction than it is made out to be.

This source provides multiple resources and insights into the historical research and studies of asexuality, making it an excellent reference. Societal expectations have led to a near alienation of acceptance of asexuality. Such expectations include gender roles/stereotypes, heteronormativity, and hypersexualization. This source provides insight into how research and studies have been used to define and better understand asexuality while acknowledging limitations and room for improvement.

This post is a continuation of defining and understanding asexuality in its historical and modern context. The significance of asexuality will continue to be examined in later posts. The next post will discuss a different perspective of asexuality once more. Thank you for following along and feel free to share your insights!

Bibliography:

Petra Filipová. “Gender and Asexuality in Academic Sources.” In Gender in Focus: Identities, Codes, Stereotypes and Politics, edited by Andreea Zamfira, Christian de Montlibert, and Daniela Radu, 1st ed., 108–22. Verlag Barbara Budrich, 2018. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvddzn5f.7.

Welcome to my first official post!

Today I wanted to share a piece from "Stories of Non-Becoming: Non-Issues, Non-Events and Non-Identities in Asexual Lives" by Susie Scott, Liz McDonnell, and Matt Dawson. I will provide a summary of this piece because it may not be easily available to the public. I want to share this specific resource because asexuality is misunderstood and is a concept I was curious to explore and share. 

Asexuality itself is not new, but the term has only gained common use in the past decade or so. People have documented asexuality in different ways throughout history, but that will be discussed in a later post. With today's source, I am going to discuss how the non-becoming of asexuality has been an influence in many lives.

The "Stories of Non-Becoming" is/was a survey of those who identify as asexual and what that means in terms of how they live their life and how it affects them. The majority of the respondents gave the same or similar answers. Asexuality, like any other sexuality, does not define their life. It is not at the forefront of everything they do nor is it the driving factor to decisions they make. Asexuality is simply a part of who they are, but not all they are. However, society has placed the idea that asexuality is the defining factor of a person. Many of the respondents stated that although their asexuality IS a part of them, there are bigger, more important factors in life than one's sexual identity.

One quote I liked, in particular, was, “You're defining yourself by what you’re not”. This quote was stated by one of the respondents to the survey. Asexuality in light of what society has made it out to have negative connotations. Society has made asexuality appear like a societal disease or social suicide in a way. Asexuality is the little to lack of sexual attraction, commonly known by the community. However, the respondents argue that while people can identify within the asexual umbrella, it is not something one does. Not many people go around talking about what they do not do or engage with, the same can be applied to asexuality.

To conclude this all, asexuality is a state of non-becoming. The article states: “Thus just as one can become a something, one can become a non-something, an ex-something, or a something-else, and all of these are positively-defined identities.” Asexuality is a spectrum just like anything else. It is just a term, not a defining factor of who a person is. Everyone is different just like experiences and opinions, so this is not to discredit those who do identify as asexual, but to provide a different perspective on asexuality and how others can own it.

This initial post assists in defining the term and outlines the modern understanding of asexuality. However, the history of asexuality goes deeper, which will be examined in later posts. The topic of the next post will revolve around asexuality and its ties to medical research. Thank you for following along!

Bibliography:

Susie Scott, Liz McDonnell, and Matt Dawson. “Stories of Non-Becoming: Non-Issues, Non-Events and Non-Identities in Asexual Lives.” Symbolic Interaction 39, no. 2 (2016): 268–86. https://www.jstor.org/stable/symbinte.39.2.268.

Hello! I am an undergraduate student finishing up a digital project final. I plan to make a few posts in the next week or so sharing material about asexuality.

I want to share how society has placed certain preconceived ideas on what asexuality is, how it has been documented in the past, and how people have experienced asexuality and what it means for them.

My hope for this blog is to provide the asexual community more information about their sexuality and to find its history as interesting as I do. Thank you to anyone who follows along this journey!