More people are openly identifying as asexual, but the complex world of asexuality is still misunderstood by the mainstream
Great article in the Guardian (UK) about Asexual Visibility.
I started identifying as asexual but it didn’t mean that anything about my sexuality had changed, simply that I now had a word to describe it.
Prude shaming and virginity
The right to say NO and not be judged for it is every bit as important and valid as the right to say YES.
Up a bit late despite being filmed last night (as evidenced by the fancy magazine make-up) because I fell asleep mid way through editing. True story.
Prude shaming playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL266EB5F98A24A246
This Dame:
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/somekindofbecca
Tumblr: http://somekindofbecca.tumblr.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/beccarothwell
Among the asexuals (Observer Magazine)
In a society obsessed with sex, it’s hard if you have no sexual desire at all. Some are searching for a new form of intimacy.
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/26/among-the-asexuals
“OK,” writes Annette, in an introductory email: “I am 47 but look younger, probably because I take good care of myself and also do not have the stress of a husband and kids.” At first glance it reads like the “describe yourself” section of a dating site, which is ironic, considering that Annette is one of several people responding to my search for case studies on a forum for people who are asexual. That is, people who have little to no interest in sex. “I live in a dull suburb in Minnesota and right now I’m eating lunch (and typing) at the law firm where I work as a paralegal. My job makes me happy to be asexual, as I see all the divorce cases and what really goes on. Yeah, really – the crap that is going on in the suburbs: her husband left her for his boyfriend, stuff like that.”
Annette writes in the breathless, self-assured style of any typical, busy American too pushed for time to mince their words. Life as an asexual person in the suburbs has thrown her some curveballs, like the woman at her local church group who prayed she would find a husband, chanting: “Saint Anne! Saint Anne! Find her a man!” Or the time a relative, apparently perplexed by Annette’s perpetual singledom, secretly signed her up to a dating agency. She’s still getting newsletters from the company years later.
Links Round Up
Uganda anti-gay bill back in parliament (Aljazeera)
Proposed legislation that would make death sentence mandatory for “repeat offenders”.Ten Surprising Facts About Heterosexuality (Huffington Post)
Not only does the history of heterosexuality offer up surprises that make you rethink what “heterosexual” is and means, it also makes you realize how little we really know about this thing about which most of us assume we already know everything we need to.Is there a war on women’s health care? (Video and article from Aljazeera)
We ask if conservative groups in the US have a growing influence over women’s access to certain types of health care. Some rights groups have called it a war against women - a battle that has seen women’s health providers in the US come under sustained attack from conservative groups.What is it like to be asexual? (BBC)
“Well if you’re straight have you tried having sex with somebody you know of the same sex as you? How do you know you wouldn’t enjoy that? You just know that if you’re not interested in it, you’re not interested in it, regardless of having tried it or not.”Female genital mutilation rife in Egypt despite ban (BBC)
In 2008 Egypt outlawed the practice of female genital mutilation but the ban seems to have had little effect and the practice is still rife. The article contains graphic detail.
