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An amazing infograph + several studies on asexuality discrimination and mental health

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in 2020

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[Dark purple background with large white text that says 'Unicorn March presents: What Aces Face,' followed by a small ace flag.]

[Dark purple background with large white text that says 'First, a few quick definitions.' Smaller white text below it says, 'The 'unicorns' of the LGBTQIPA+ community are groups that are rarely seen, and rarely supported. Asexuals, or 'aces,' aren't sexually attracted to men. Or women. Or any other genders.  Some aces can get turned on by the idea of enjoyable sex; some just don't enjoy it, or are repulsed by it. But they don't get turned on by people. The ace spectrum also includes people who are demisexual and grey-ace. Demis don't experience sexual attraction without deep emotional intimacy.  Most people go on first dates to see if they feel attraction; demis don't know if they'll ever feel it for a given person.']

[White text here continues from the previous image: 'Like many grey areas, 'grey-ace' covers a lot of territory. Grey-aces identify with the experiences shared overall by the ace community. But they might feel unsure about whether they sometimes experience sexual attraction. They may experience it only vaguely, conditionally, or, like many demis, very, very rarely. Or they may experience some sort of sexual attraction, but not any particular drive or interest in sex. The beauty of the grey-ace label is that people can connect to the ace-spec community without having to put their reasons into words. If that sounds confusing, try assuming you're experiencing attraction, when really you just want, very much, to date someone. Or thinking you must be bi or pan, because you experience the same amount of (or lack of) attraction to all genders. Or distinguishing between sexual attraction to people, and free-floating sexual arousal in general. Most of us assume that if we have any sex drive at all, it must mean we're attracted to people. But there's a difference... and even when we don't notice the difference, it has an impact on our lives.']

[Black text on a grey background says In The WorkplACE. The letters ACE are in the rest of the ace pride flag colors: white, grey, and purple. Below this header is an explanation of the bar graph following it: 'The white columns show the percent of each group, at work, that experiences verbal harassment, exclusion from activities, being nonconsensually outed, the threat or act of physical or sexual harassment or violence, or other inappropriate comments or conduct.  In order to avoid counting sexual minorities who are harassed for being trans, these numbers are only for cis sexual minorities. Transgender responses were consistently higher: a full third of heterosexual trans people reported similar experiences.' The chart shows that 19.3% of gay people were harassed at work, 23.3% of bisexuals, 28.6% of pansexuals, 29% of aces, and 27.1% of queer people. Additional dark and light purple bars alongside the white bars show stats for cis and trans people living in poverty. Among cis people, 37.7% of gay people in the UK are living in poverty; 59% of bisexuals; 65.2% of pansexuals; 64% of aces; and 57.3% of queer people. Among trans people, 57.9% of gay people live in poverty; 60.5% of bisexuals; 66.2% of pansexuals; 64.8% of aces; and 64.7% of queer people. Black text below this chart gives the source of the data as 'Government Equalities Office, 2017, National LGBT Survey.']

[This page features a purple background and a central white square with the text, 'Barriers To Education: In 2015, the Association of American Universities surveyed more than 150,000 students nationwide about some of the challenges they might have been experiencing. These statistics are from their time in college and graduate school only.' Around this are four sections, with greyscale squares in different sizes showing the statistics for each group. From the top of the page, proceeding clockwise around it: 60.4% of gay/lesbians, 64% of aces, and 69.1% of bisexuals experience harassment during college and graduate school. 10.8% of straight students, 13.7% of gay/lesbian, 18.3% of ace, and 25.6% of bi students experience violent assault. 3.7% of straight, 5.9% of gay, 9.5% of ace, and 9.9% of bi students experience stalking. and 5.2% of straight, 8.7% of gay, 13.5% of ace, and 14.4% of bi students experience nonconsensual touch. The bottom of the page gives the following source: Cantor, David, et al. 2015. AAU Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Sexual Misconduct.]

[A light grey background, decorated with dots and circles in purple and white, with a white bar graph. Purple text reads, 'HOME SWEET HOME: The white columns show the percent of each group that at home, in the past year, experienced verbal harassment, insults, or other hurtful comments; coercive or controlling behavior; being nonconsensually outed; the threat or act of physical or sexual harassment or violence; or other inappropriate comments or conduct. In order to avoid counting sexual minorities who are abused for being trans, these numbers are only for cis sexual minorities. Transgender responses were consistently higher, but followed a similar pattern, ranging from 36.8% for heterosexuals to 58.9% for pansexuals.' Below this, the bar chart shows the percentages: 22.5% of gay people, 34.8% of bisexuals, 39.3% of pansexuals, 32.1% of queer people, 35.6% of aces, and 36.6% of people identifying in some other way. These stats are once again from the UK's national LGBT Survey in 2017.]

[A large, purple-edged, white speech bubble against a black background says, 'So-called conversion therapies, sometimes also referred to as cure, aversion or reparative therapies, are techniques intended to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity... commonly ranging from pseudo-psychological treatments to spiritual counselling. In extreme cases, they may also include surgical and hormonal interventions, or so-called ‘corrective’ rape.' The quote is attributed to 'The Rt. Hon. Penny Mordaunt and the Government Equalities Office. (2017) National LGBT Survey: Research Report.']

[A cherry-red megaphone against a purple background illustrates the stats for 'CONVERSION THERAPY.' A smaller subheader says, 'The least- studied asexual experience by far is also one of the most damaging -- and most common.' The page goes on to explain, 'In 2017, the UK's Government Equalities Office conducted the National LGBT Survey, which included more than 108,000 LGBTQIPA+ people. Their findings finally validated what aces had been saying for years: a wide swath of the world treats their sexual orientation as a disease to be 'cured.' By force, if necessary.' The megaphone is lined with bold black statistics: Bi, 5.2%. Pan, 6.6%. Gay, 7.6%. Ace, 10.2%. At the bottom, a smaller note says that 'Percentages are of cis people who have had, or been directed to, conversion therapy for their orientation. Trans responses are omitted here for clarity, as they could have been targeted for gender, orientation, or both.']

[White text on a black background says, 'HOMELESSNESS IS NOT AN EVENT: '...For LGBTQA youth, while disclosures of stigmatized sexual or gender identities typically did not instantly result in getting kicked out, it often arrived in the context of already stressed parent-child relationships and other parental and family struggles that were years in the making. 'Many of these youth eventually left in order to escape the stigma and discrimination they had endured within their families for quite some time. [They reported] some of the highest rates of adversity scores in our survey, often while stably housed.' Samuels, Gina E. Miranda, et al. (2019) Voices of Youth Count In-Depth Interviews: Technical Report.]

[White text on a purple background says, 'HOMELESSNESS: A higher likelihood of becoming homeless is one of the most socially visible effects of oppression. According to the national 2016-17 Voices Of Youth Count survey, 114% more homeless youth are on the ace spectrum than youth in the general population. 41% more are gay/lesbian; 50% more are bi; and 83% more are trans.' Below that, a grey bar chart on a white background shows these statistics, as well as showing that cis hetero youth are disproportionately less likely to become homeless.' Source: Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago. (2017) Youth Homelessness in San Diego County, California: Findings from the youth count, brief youth survey, and provider survey.]

[White text on a purple background says, 'In 2011, the National Transgender Discrimination Survey spoke with 6,450 trans people, creating a detailed portrait of transgender life. We all know the trans community struggles with very high homelessness rates. So high that even heterosexual trans people have the same likelihood of having been homeless at some point as their gay and bi transgender peers: around 19%. But if you're trans and ace? 27%.' Source: 'LGB Within the T,' The Williams Institute A grey bar chart on the right, against a white background, illustrates the statistics: 19% each for straight and gay trans people, 17% for bi trans people, and 27% for ace trans people.]

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[The header says, 'MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS: These are each group's mean scores on clinical assessments for depression and generalized anxiety disorder. GAD is diagnosed at scores of 10 or higher. Scores of 10-14 on the PHQ-9 indicate moderate depression.' Below this are greyscale stripes going from off-white to black. Each stripe has the name of a sexual orientation, followed by two emoji illustrating their average scores for clinical depression and anxiety disorders. Heterosexuals are illustrated with two smiley faces and the scores 6.15 anxiety, 6.99 depression. Gay Men and Lesbians have upside-down smiley faces, in the classic 'ha ha I'm screwed' emoji, and the scores 7.50 anxiety, 8.83 depression. The other four orientations have sad faces, illustrating scores approaching or above the clinical cutoff for these mood disorders: Bisexuals, 9.92 anxiety, 10.73 depression. Asexuals, 9.24 anxiety, 11.80 depression. Pansexuals, 10.13 anxiety, 12.37 depression. And demisexuals, 11.56 anxiety, 13.47 depression. A purple circle on the right contains the text 'Source: Borgogna, N. C., et al. 2018. Anxiety and Depression Across Gender and Sexual Minorities: Implications for Transgender, Gender Nonconforming, Pansexual, Demisexual, Asexual, Queer, and Questioning Individuals.']

[A black header against a broad purple background says, 'SUICIDALITY'. Below, in large white text, the number '26% of cis aces' stands out. It continues in smaller text, 'in a 2011 study had suicidal thoughts/feelings in the two weeks prior to the study, compared to 24% of cis LGB and 12% of cis straight subjects.' Source: 'Mental Health and Interpersonal Functioning in Self-Identified Asexual Men and Women,' Yulea, Brotto, & Gorzalska, 2011.]

[White text on a black background says, 'Asexual trans people have the highest rate of attempted suicide of all sexual orientations: a shocking 46%.' The number 46% is in large italic purple text. Smaller white italics continue, 'Remember, that statistic only measures those who attempted it. In one study of nearly 2,000 trans people aged 14-30, 95.5% of subjects reported having had suicidal thoughts and feelings at some point in their lives.' A purple bar chart to the right illustrates the statistics: 36% of hetero trans people, 40% of gay/lesbian trans people, 40% of bi+ trans people, and 46% of aces.' Sources: Grant, Jaime M. et al (2011). Injustice at every turn: A report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey; and Kuper et al (2018). Exploring Cross-Sectional Predictors of Suicide Ideation, Attempt, and Risk in a Large Online Sample of Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Youth and Young Adults.]

Spoiler

Links to all the sources, in the order that they appear: 

UK Government Equalities Office. (2017) National LGBT Survey. Data from more than 108,000 LGBTQIPA+ people across the United Kingdom. You can review the data and crunch your own numbers by clicking “analyse” on their website! They also have a report which presents some of the data, and their commentary.

Cantor, David, et al. (2015) AAU Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Sexual Misconduct. Data from more than 150,000 college and graduate students across the United States. 

Samuels, Gina E. Miranda, et al. (2019) Voices of Youth Count In-Depth Interviews: Technical Report. This is a 22-county study of 4,139 unhoused youth across the United States. They worked with local agencies, and were careful to include a mix of rural, suburban, and urban areas of varying densities and demographics. This report has a broad overview of their findings and recommendations. 

The in-depth data represented here comes from Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago. (2017) Youth Homelessness in San Diego County, California: Findings from the youth count, brief youth survey, and provider survey. Although that’s a San Diego-specific study, Appendix E provides the data from all 22 counties for comparison. 

The Williams Institute. (2016) LGB Within the T. This paper crunches the data from the 2011 National Transgender Discrimination Survey, which did in-depth interviews of 6,450 trans people of all orientations. 

Borgogna, N. C., et al. (2018) Anxiety and Depression Across Gender and Sexual Minorities: Implications for Transgender, Gender Nonconforming, Pansexual, Demisexual, Asexual, Queer, and Questioning Individuals. This paper crunches the data from the ACHA National College Health Assessment, a twice-yearly survey of (at last count) 67,972 students at 98 schools across the United States. 

Yulea, Brotto, & Gorzalska. (2011) Mental Health and Interpersonal Functioning in Self-Identified Asexual Men and Women. This is an older study, by comparison, and much smaller, so it’s used very sparingly here. 

Salway et al (2019). A Systematic Review and Meta‑Analysis of Disparities in the Prevalence of Suicide Ideation and Attempts Among Bisexual Populations. An extremely thorough analysis of the data available in 46 studies on LGBT suicidality, the reasons for different findings in different studies, and the most likely actual numbers. 

Bauer et al (2018). The 2016 Asexual Community Survey Summary Report. This is an ongoing annual online survey of major asexual communities; the 2016 survey received a total of 9,869 responses (Ace = 9331 and Non-Ace= 538). As it’s not a peer-reviewed published study, it’s used even more sparingly here; the only data used here from this report is the percentage of cis aces who had considered suicide. 

Grant, Jaime M. et al. 2011. Injustice at every turn: A report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey. Further excellent analysis of the data from those 6,450 trans people.  

Kuper et al. 2018. Exploring Cross-Sectional Predictors of Suicide Ideation, Attempt, and Risk in a Large Online Sample of Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Youth and Young Adults. Crunches data from the largest sample to date of transgender and gender non-conforming young people, a geographically diverse group of 1,896 respondents ages 14-30. 

Alright so this is from a tumblr post I found randomly. I found this extremely well done and wanted to share it on Aven. The creator's absolutely deserves to be spread. This entire infograph would be an amazing tool to explain discrimination and mental in asexuality. I really hope this doesn't just fade on Aven and can be used as a real educational tool despite any flaws within it. I probably should have taken the time to fully digest this before sharing it but I do think it contains at least some helpful information. 

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Star G.

Star G.

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...But the homelessness stats are a little nerve-wrecking. ..I did hear some threats from my home, and the very threat-mongers themselves are busy being brainwashed by the media themselves at this very moment.

......Kinda harsh to say to those who raised me (& I'm virtually sitting upon their properties); but when I can't even take at least some form of charge and even rent a room due to reasons & financial state whatnot, it does suffocate me a little bit.

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Guest

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1 minute ago, Star G. said:

...But the homelessness stats are a little nerve-wrecking. ..I did hear some threats from my home, and the very threat-mongers themselves are busy being brainwashed by the media themselves at this very moment.

......Kinda harsh to say to those who raised me (& I'm virtually sitting upon their properties); but when I can't even take at least some form of charge and even rent a room due to reasons & financial state whatnot, it does suffocate me a little bit.

I'm sorry about that mate. If you wanna talk more in depth or vent feel free to pm me.

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Star G.

Star G.

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Thank you Krys. ...Though since we met from the Internet, I hope you (and virtually to everyone else) don't mind that if I was being precautious and that annoyed you.

...Otherwise, it it also my concern as a grown-up that we're not living in an era where old values of responsibilities aren't even a thing anymore. ..Which, as much as it may sound damning - is just my opinion.

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Anarchist Kaos

Anarchist Kaos

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Very interesting, there was a lot of information there that I wasn't familiar with, may need to review of the cited studies, just to see if they talk about other things I might not know.

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"The homeless state underlines a possible system flaw too. It is much easier to rent out a home if you're partnered than on your own and aces are less likely to be in a relationships. The system encourages partnership one way or the other, be it through hiking up the prices to make use of two people making money or through the societal pressure of being in relationships. Also, single people are stigmatized. (QuasiSquirrel's comment but was too lazy to add it)" 

 

A fairly good observation that there might also be societal factors in the system at play rather than just blatant discrimination. However it's still something that largely affects a-spec people too then.

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Anarchist Kaos

Anarchist Kaos

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6 minutes ago, KrysLostInSpace said:

"The homeless state underlines a possible system flaw too. It is much easier to rent out a home if you're partnered than on your own and aces are less likely to be in a relationships. The system encourages partnership one way or the other, be it through hiking up the prices to make use of two people making money or through the societal pressure of being in relationships. Also, single people are stigmatized. (QuasiSquirrel's comment but was too lazy to add it)" 

 

A fairly good observation that there might also be societal factors in the system at play rather than just blatant discrimination. However it's still something that largely affects a-spec people too then.

*Looks at wallet after paying rent last Friday* Well I still have $1.50 USD for food...

 

So, yeah really good point, if I get sick even once I can't afford rent.

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WoodwindWhistler

WoodwindWhistler

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It's times like these I give thanks that I am probably autistic, and do not interact with people. Socially. Much at all for my job, either. 

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