Research Request: perceptions of the ace community

[kelico]

We have the following research request from Marnya Kostiukova. Please read and participate if you can! 

 

Quote

My name is Maryna Kostiukova. I am a Ph.D. student at the University of Porto (Portugal) and aromantic asexual. I am conducting a study called "𝗟𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝘀𝗲𝘅𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵: 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗰𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆." This research was approved by the Ethical Committee of the University of Porto (Ref.ª 2023/02-02b). 

 

Disclaimer: the study is concerned with the sensitive topic of sex and sexuality.

Who can participate? People that identify themselves with any of the asexual spectrum identities, are at least 18 years old and capable of reading and writing in English.

How long will it take? On average, the study will take from 20 to 30 minutes, so make sure that you have this time to respond. But, of course, you can take your time and return to the questions later. Online Survey isn't going anywhere 

Why is it important? Over the years more and more people have become aware of the existence of asexuality. Nevertheless, it's still viewed as a mysterious black box, where we can see the outcomes but have no clue of what is happening inside. Many people do not know how asexuality works, they just know that it does. Scientists tried to solve this puzzle by conducting various lab studies of asexuality, though at this moment only 5 of those studies have been published, which is of course, not enough to answer ALL of the questions. You can ask why haven't we recruited more participants and conducted more laboratory asexuality research. It's a valid question, but it isn't that we didn't try. For some reason, ace individuals aren't very eager to take part in this type of research. The question remains: Why? 

• Have you participated in the lab asexuality study and absolutely loved it? That's great, come and tell us why.
• Did you take part in such a study and hate it with all your heart? I am sorry for this, but we need to hear about your experience. It is the only way to improve scientific research and change things around.
• You haven't participated and you'll never will? Ok, we want to hear from you too!
• You don't really know what lab sex research is? That's not a problem. Just take a survey, and you'll get some hints of what it looks like and based on them you can tell us how do you feel about it. It's not a knowledge test, objective truth is not so important, your subjective experience is what really matters to us!
• You want to participate, but you are too scared? Please, share your thoughts and feelings with us. We will see what can be done to make our lab studies more sensitive to your needs.

To summarize, by taking 20-30 minutes of your time and filling out the survey you will contribute to increasing asexual visibility (in the scientific field of sexuality research and beyond), improving the quality of lab asexuality studies, and expanding the scientific knowledge about asexuality. Let your voice be heard! I bet it's beautiful!

 

That's all. Thank you for taking the time and effort to respond!

 

Best regards,

Maryna Kostiukova

Survey link: https://psicologia.fra1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6m3SOUXNH466Wa2

 

This study was approved by the Project Team.

On behalf of PT,

kelico

[Pomelord.]

Wow, I'm glad I participated in this survey! I hope this really does lead to improvements in how these studies are conducted. I haven't ever personally participated in "laboratory sex research", but the name alone ... makes it pretty obvious to me why many asexuals shy away from them.