A Brief History of Asexuality, by Celia Gutiérrez (2026)

[SangueShi]

Category: Article, Research, History

Author: Celia Gutiérrez

Source: https://lotonegrorevista.blogspot.com/

Title: Asexuality Existed Before Social Media

Date: 30/05/2026

Link: https://lotonegrorevista.blogspot.com/2026/05/asexuality-existed-before-social-media.html

APA: Gutiérrez, C. (2026, May 30). Asexuality Existed Before Social Media. Loto Negro.

 

 

I'm posting this here so the administrators can place it where appropriate.

 

Many people still assume that asexuality emerged with the internet and social media. In this article, Celia Gutiérrez —author of La Revolución (A)sexual, the first book about asexuality published in Spanish— explores the historical roots of asexuality long before the creation of online communities.

 

The article traces a series of overlooked references, concepts, social movements, activists, and early testimonies that demonstrate how asexual experiences existed long before platforms such as AVEN, Tumblr, Twitter, or Instagram. It also reflects on the historical erasure of asexuality and the difficulties people faced when they lacked the language to describe their experiences.

 

For readers interested in ACE history, visibility, and the development of asexual identity across time, this is an accessible introduction to a fascinating and often neglected topic.

 

Thanks for reading 🙂

[everywhere and nowhere]

Thank you. Although one thing immediately annoyed me about the text: I really dislike capitalising "ace". Actually, people make up a lot of ridiculous explanations about some words supposedly being acronyms, when their etymologies are usually clear - maybe not exactly known to non-specialists, but visible through relatedness to other words.

[SangueShi]

2 minutes ago, everywhere and nowhere said:

Thank you. Although one thing immediately annoyed me about the text: I really dislike capitalising "ace". Actually, people make up a lot of ridiculous explanations about some words supposedly being acronyms, when their etymologies are usually clear - maybe not exactly known to non-specialists, but visible through relatedness to other words.

You're welcome!

Yeah, sorry about that. Capitalizing “ace” is just a bad habit of mine, but I get what you mean 😅

[uhtred]

Something I've always found interesting is that homosexuality has been recognized as far back as we have recorded history - whether or not it was "accepted" in cultures, people knew it existed.  Asexuality OTOH was not talked about. Its not clear what fraction of people who chose to join celibate religious groups were asexual, but it was not discussed in those terms.  I wonder why it wasn't recognized?  The blog mentions discussions back to the 19th century, but recognition of homosexuality goes so much further back.  Even today its not fully recognized the way homosexuality is.