The Invisibility of Asexuality

[Divide By Zero]

The Walrus (a Canadian news magazine) has a series of articles on sex ed. One of the articles is on asexuality and it's lack of inclusion in sex ed curriculum.

Source: The Walrus
Title: The Invisibility of Asexuality
Date: December 2018
Link: https://thewalrus.ca/the-invisibility-of-asexuality/

[Violet of the Stars]

When I asked a teacher what the LGBTQIA+ stands for, this is what he said.

 

L= lesbian

G= gay

T= transgender, transsexual (same thing, but transgender is more modern and a better term because it won't be confused as a sexuality as easily)

Q= queer

I= intersex

A= ALLY

 

Me: *screams internally

 

 

The whole "a is for ally" thing is dumb, because allies themselves aren't part of the gender or sexual minority, which is what being LGBTQIA+ means. Also, allies aren't born as allies. 

 

It also contributes to the intense amount of asexual erasure and this isn't helping.

[LP1204]

2 hours ago, Violet of the Stars said:

When I asked a teacher what the LGBTQIA+ stands for, this is what he said.

 

L= lesbian

G= gay

T= transgender, transsexual (same thing, but transgender is more modern and a better term because it won't be confused as a sexuality as easily)

Q= queer

I= intersex

A= ALLY

 

Me: *screams internally

 

 

The whole "a is for ally" thing is dumb, because allies themselves aren't part of the gender or sexual minority, which is what being LGBTQIA+ means. Also, allies aren't born as allies. 

 

It also contributes to the intense amount of asexual erasure and this isn't helping.

Honestly, the word Ally is somewhat a trigger word for me. I could go on and on why but it's really stupid. If you support the LGBT community then great, but that doesn't mean you're a part of it. *sigh* it's so frustrating.

[Bio 7]

I don’t see us as the A in that acronym as they are sexualities and we are the lack of one, usually.

[Homer]

1. Historically, the A is for ally. Deal with it.

2. Screw the alphabet soup. Arguing over a couple of letters makes asexuality look ridiculous.

[iam135]

Nice article - thanks for sharing! The ice cream metaphor was really well done. I'm curious as to where they got the "about a third of asexual people are 'sex repulsed'" statistic - I don't doubt it's legitimacy, but I'm curious as to whether that came from the community census or some other study simply because I want to explore the data myself 😁.

 

As for the "A argument," I had always assumed that it stood for both Ally and Asexual/Aromantic/Agender. After all, isn't LGBTQIA+ just shorthand for the longer LGBTTQQIAAP... which has two A's? I don't see why a single letter can't stand for multiple things if it's being condensed. Same goes for the single T for Transgender and Transsexual and the single Q for Queer and Questioning - it's just shorthand. But, to be fair, I'm not really active in LGBT+ circles, so I might be completely wrong - feel free to correct me.

[alto]

Seems like good viz to me.

[Sally]

On 12/8/2018 at 7:13 PM, Violet of the Stars said:

When I asked a teacher what the LGBTQIA+ stands for, this is what he said.

 

L= lesbian

G= gay

T= transgender, transsexual (same thing, but transgender is more modern and a better term because it won't be confused as a sexuality as easily)

Q= queer

I= intersex

A= ALLY

 

Me: *screams internally

 

 

The whole "a is for ally" thing is dumb, because allies themselves aren't part of the gender or sexual minority, which is what being LGBTQIA+ means. Also, allies aren't born as allies. 

 

It also contributes to the intense amount of asexual erasure and this isn't helping.

The LGBT etc. community considers the A to be Allies.  You/we can call it dumb, but that's their opinion, which is at least as important as ours.  

 

[LeChat]

On ‎12‎/‎8‎/‎2018 at 10:13 PM, Violet of the Stars said:

When I asked a teacher what the LGBTQIA+ stands for, this is what he said.

 

L= lesbian

G= gay

T= transgender, transsexual (same thing, but transgender is more modern and a better term because it won't be confused as a sexuality as easily)

Q= queer

I= intersex

A= ALLY

 

Me: *screams internally

Hmm. I thought the "Q" also stood for "questioning."

 

Well, I guess "asexuals" would be under "queer," then. I definitely grew up questioning my gender and sexuality because strangers did and thought I was strange/"queer."

[Yosemite]

4 hours ago, InquisitivePhilosopher said:

Hmm. I thought the "Q" also stood for "questioning."

 

Well, I guess "asexuals" would be under "queer," then. I definitely grew up questioning my gender and sexuality because strangers did and thought I was strange/"queer."

I like using "queer" as a blanket statement for "not straight". That way I don't have to say or write a bunch of letters, or explain my sexuality thoroughly. I'm not sure if it's alright to say though, since I hear that some people still find it offensive. Does anyone know the majority consensus on using that word?

[Miss Anne Thrope]

On 12/18/2018 at 1:14 AM, Yosemite said:

I like using "queer" as a blanket statement for "not straight". That way I don't have to say or write a bunch of letters, or explain my sexuality thoroughly. I'm not sure if it's alright to say though, since I hear that some people still find it offensive. Does anyone know the majority consensus on using that word?

As far as I've seen, most people are fine with people identifying as queer, but not all are comfortable with being called queer. So, call yourself queer all you like* but don't call anyone else queer unless they're explicitly okay with it.

 

*Side note: a lot of people in the LGBT+ community do not think that people who are cis hetero/aro aces are allowed to reclaim the term queer, so keep that in mind.

[Pramana]

Sexual education is a controversial topic in the Canadian province of Ontario. The new Conservative government reversed the modernized sexual education curriculum introduced by the Liberals, and so the province has reverted to a sex ed curriculum that dates from 1998.