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[ex_pippin880]

Hey guys! I'm doing asexuality/aromanticism for the Frequently (or Not So Frequently) Asked Questions project and I've been asked something that I can't answer. Would anyone like to take it?

The question is:
What's your favourite and least favourite thing to read about asexuality in fiction?

And I... can't think of a single example of or reference to (textual/canon) asexuality in books/fiction I've read. :|

Comments

[themistoklis]

Least favorite -- there being an "alien" or "nonhuman" quality to the asexual character, like that's the only reason to explain why they might be asexual. A lot of characters interpreted as ace -- that I've run across -- are in some way portrayed as sociopathic, antisocial, alien, or inhuman in the original media.

I liked Karen Healey's ace character, Kevin, in Guardian of the Dead. There wasn't a lot of 101 and maybe there could have been a bit more discussion, but it wasn't his defining character trait, and he wasn't mean or rude or anything. He did have magical blood, but he wasn't treated as alien.

I've never seen it, except in fanfiction, but I would like some measure of 101 beyond "not being interested in sex" (which, although I don't have the book anymore, I think was how Healey had Kevin explain himself). It doesn't have to be an entire AVEN primer or wiki page, but I'd like at least a mention of romantic and aromantic and maybe something about varying degrees of comfort with sex.

[pyrofennec]

Heh, I'm writing something where an entire species is asexual and treat being sexual as something non-default and strange. I'm asexual and this, basically, was my answer to the average better-and-sexier-than-thou fantasy race--you know how a lot of people find escapism in pointy-eared white supremacists Mary Sues elves? Mine is "ungendered, asexual, and not white, lol fuck you Tolkien." It didn't occur to me back then that associating asexuality with the non-human was problematic. :/

I do have a human asexual character in the same story, though.

[themistoklis]

:P I'm also agender.

I love fantasy fiction. It's probably my favorite genre ever, and it's the majority of what I write (in original fiction). But I hesitate at giving aces magical powers or making them a part of a magical race (unless there are also lots of non-ace people with magic, or non-ace members of the magical race). I mean, if there was an entire race of aliens who were all gay, or all bisexual, I would imagine that it would be equally problematic.

Not having read your stuff I don't want to judge. If I'd come across the race in a novel written by a sexual person, I'd have put it down immediately. If you have a prominent human asexual character, I think that helps balance it out.

I would just be very wary of approaching it as a reader, because the majority of characters interpreted as asexual are also cast in some way as not human, or at least treated as somehow not human in the "right" way. And while I love aliens and fantasy races, I'm also tired of that being nearly the only way that people like me can exist.

[pipisafoat]

He did have magical blood, but he wasn't treated as alien.
Also that the magical blood was not used as an excuse for his asexuality!

Um, I liked him, too. Mostly because it was just a part of him and not his defining character trait, as you said.


I am afraid of in the future it becoming a thing like Dumbledore's homosexuality - JKR never said he was with a woman, therefore he was gay. I don't want to see "but I never said Character X was with someone, so clearly they were asexual!" But, um, now I'm just off-topic.

[pyrofennec]

No-o. Rowling said something much worse:

And it’s relevant only in so much as he fell in love and was made an utter fool of by love. He lost his moral compass completely when he fell in love and I think subsequently became very mistrusting of his own judgment in those matters so became quite asexual. He led a celibate and bookish life.

You see, he started out as gay but became asexual because one love affair went wrong, since "asexual" is something you turn into and not, like, a legit orientation or anything. Ho ho ho. (Her handling of his homosexuality is iffy as shit too, but that's neither here nor there.)

[pipisafoat]

Oh jesus. After the initial "btw gay" I just threw my hands in the air and had nothing else to do with it. Blech. I am glad I missed such a thing when it happened, but jesus god REALLY, woman?

He can lead a celibate and bookish life! I am okay with that sentence. Why didn't she just start and end with that one and be done with it without insulting people?

*headdesk* what the fuck, world.

[pyrofennec]

I adore it when people conflate celibacy with asexuality! And by adore I mean "purge this person with a blowtorch."

[ex_pippin880]

JKR's handling of Dumbledore is so hinky and *ist in so many different ways. :/

[pipisafoat]

No kidding.

[themistoklis]

Also that the magical blood was not used as an excuse for his asexuality!

Oh, you're right! Yeah, that was great.

*nods* He had other interests and skills, and was invested in his friendships.

I don't want to see it handled that way, yeah. That wouldn't be a good way to handle aromanticism, either.

[ex_pippin880]

Thank you!

(I once had a conversation with someone where they were going "but why do you get so angry about this" (lol) so I asked them to tell me as many aces as they could who were neither non-human or inhuman in some way.

Their first answer was "Dexter".

Yep. Serial killers: just a normal part of human society.)

[themistoklis]

Ugh. Dexter makes it very clear that he experiences few emotions. In the books, he makes it extra super clear that he does not really consider himself human. I watch the show and read the books, but I hate when people use him as an example of an ace person.