I Wish There Were More Asexual Icons

[waterdragongirl]

By icons I mean celebrities, superheroes, novel protagonists, I'll take literally anything at this point. Idk what annoys me the most is when googling "Asexual Icons" a lot of the lists are just speculation and wrong ideas of asexuality like "X hasn't been in a romantic relationship for 20 years so X must be asexual!" or "Z was openly asexual but we guess Z isn't anymore because Z got married and has children". I think on a twenty person list only two of the people on it were openly asexual. I'm not saying out everyone that could be asexual to make me feel better, but it would be cool to see more visibility once and a while...-__-

[IAmNoBird]

Asexuality hasn't been very visible for very long, I think it only started gaining ground when AVEN became a thing (correct me if I'm wrong). It's very good at flying under the radar, for better or worse, so a lot of looking for "icons" will entail speculation and picking apart statements, etc. Most people still don't know it exists and thus can't say for themselves.

[Archon]

I wish there were more ace icons too. At least it's only a matter of time before asexuality becomes well known enough for us to get some ace icons. It'll happen someday. :)

[Lost247365]

Morissey, Janeane Garofalo, Sherlock Holmes, Sheldon Cooper come to mind.

[DreadfulBetty]

Here I am darling :D

[CaptainYesterday]

The thing about asexual characters is that, for the same reason that it's impossible to prove a negative, you can't really show that an asexual character is in fact asexual without directly addressing it, which can be difficult to pull off without shoehorning it in to the narrative. At least in television and movies, that is. There's just something about dialog regarding these kinds of issues that always comes off corny and after-school-special-y.

I suppose in a novel with an asexual point of view character would grant access to his or her thoughts in a way that wouldn't feel forced. It would be expected, even, to have hundreds of pages worth of introspection, and when the character address his or her own feelings in his or her own mind, it would seem natural.

As far as celebrities are concerned, have any actually come out as asexual? I was under the impression the closest we had were a few celebrities beating around the bush and never actually saying the word "asexual." I think that, although times are changing, asexual celebrities might be afraid that coming out as asexual could harm their brand. Since sex is so prominent in our culture, obviously it's also prominent in our media. We expect most celebrities to be sex symbols, and being sexy opens up many doors to many roles for an actor. A homosexual man can play James Bond these days, so we're getting there, but perhaps we're still a ways away.

There could also be factors that make it more unlikely for asexual people to become celebrities in the first place. Is there a well documented overlap between asexuality and social anxiety? I don't know for sure, but I tend to see it a lot.

[Lost247365]

The thing about asexual characters is that, for the same reason that it's impossible to prove a negative, you can't really show that an asexual character is in fact asexual without directly addressing it, which can be difficult to pull off without shoehorning it in to the narrative. At least in television and movies, that is. There's just something about dialog regarding these kinds of issues that always comes off corny and after-school-special-y.

I suppose in a novel with an asexual point of view character would grant access to his or her thoughts in a way that wouldn't feel forced. It would be expected, even, to have hundreds of pages worth of introspection, and when the character address his or her own feelings in his or her own mind, it would seem natural.

As far as celebrities are concerned, have any actually come out as asexual? I was under the impression the closest we had were a few celebrities beating around the bush and never actually saying the word "asexual." I think that, although times are changing, asexual celebrities might be afraid that coming out as asexual could harm their brand. Since sex is so prominent in our culture, obviously it's also prominent in our media. We expect most celebrities to be sex symbols, and being sexy opens up many doors to many roles for an actor. A homosexual man can play James Bond these days, so we're getting there, but perhaps we're still a ways away.

There could also be factors that make it more unlikely for asexual people to become celebrities in the first place. Is there a well documented overlap between asexuality and social anxiety? I don't know for sure, but I tend to see it a lot.

Morissey, Paula Proudstone and Janeane Garofolo are all openly asexual.

TE Lawerence, Nikola Tesla, and Isaac Newton were all known for having no interest in sex or romance but that is not positive confirmation. Tim Gunn speaks about not having sex for years and years due to trama, but has never identified as asexual, and actually has stated he is homosexual. I guess he is an example of a sex-repulsed sexual.

[somethingrandom]

Emily Bronte and Isaac Newton were asexual and they're pretty awesome icons

[booksoversex]

I have been wondering about Luna Lovegood from the HP series. But sex is never mentioned (only allured to, such as Ginny having seen Harry naked and joking about him having a hippo tattoo to Ron) so it's impossible to know. She just seems to be completely disinterested in those things and doesn't get it when someone hits on her. She is a pretty cool icon if you ask me :)

[Tarfeather]

To most kinds of stories it's pretty irrelevant whether someone is asexual, because usually it's romantic relationships that become plot points. It sucks a bit that the sex is then usually implied, but I don't think there's any need to talk about the lack of sex in such a fictional relationship, unless it's a story specifically about that relationship.

It's a bit like with Dumbledore being homosexual.. Like, yeah, it totally makes sense and fits with the story, but there's really no need whatsoever to mention that in the books. Rowling stating that he was homosexual might've been nice publicity/solidarity for homosexual people, but in terms of the story it did nothing.

As for celebrities, trying to construct an understanding of how humans work by looking at select famous people is inherently flawed, and I really don't think that it's anyone's business what sexual orientation a complete stranger has. Rather than having openly asexual celebrities, I'd prefer that the matter is covered more in education, e.g. school.

[booksoversex]

To most kinds of stories it's pretty irrelevant whether someone is asexual, because usually it's romantic relationships that become plot points. It sucks a bit that the sex is then usually implied, but I don't think there's any need to talk about the lack of sex in such a fictional relationship, unless it's a story specifically about that relationship.

It's a bit like with Dumbledore being homosexual.. Like, yeah, it totally makes sense and fits with the story, but there's really no need whatsoever to mention that in the books. Rowling stating that he was homosexual might've been nice publicity/solidarity for homosexual people, but in terms of the story it did nothing.

As for celebrities, trying to construct an understanding of how humans work by looking at select famous people is inherently flawed, and I really don't think that it's anyone's business what sexual orientation a complete stranger has. Rather than having openly asexual celebrities, I'd prefer that the matter is covered more in education, e.g. school.

I don't necessarily agree with this. Knowing Dumbledore's orientation (be it homosexual or homoromantic) gave his relationship with Grindelwald a whole new dimension. Suddenly you realized why he was so blind to G's cruelty/freaky politics in some areas, and how much the battle cost him (also probably why he didn't kill him). Sort of like how the Snape/Lily-discovery altered the entire understanding of Snape's character and the intentions behind his character's actions. Or, to correct: Maybe the orientation in itself is meaningless but knowing about relationships as a result of knowing about the orientation can change how you see the character and their role.

And representation matters because then people see clearly that there are others out there, talking about this - not just my teacher rushing through it and me being left with a bunch of questions.