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New FoxNews video about asexuality


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sinisterporpoise

Fox News really isn't as bad as most of you think. it's a conservative news network. There are also several misleading statements in this thread

Rush Limbaugh is actually far more moderate than most Fox News commentators! He also doesn't pretend to be a journalist. He's a commentator and has always said so. He is largely a fiscal conservative. I don't know if he's mellowed out over the years or his competition has just gotten louder and more obnoxious. I think it's a little of both. He has no official connection with the Fox Network. (He's also done a fair amount of charity work for leukemia research.)

Glenn Beck -- ugh. I wish we didn't share the same birthday and I wish we both didn't have a connection to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Many of his shows that I had the misfortune of being forced to watch reminded me of the Mormon "firesides." Glenn Beck is no longer with Fox News. His ratings started to slip because he was too reactionary. He now runs GBTV.com and The Blaze. I'm not suggesting anyone check out either. Even when The Blaze tries to stay neutral, the commentators turn every thread into something that is painful to read.

And I don't know if anyone paid attention to another Fox News personality, Megan Kelley, taking on Keith Ablow. (The man who was criticizing Chas Bono on Dancing With the Stars.)

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This joke of a FOX show pisses me of.

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Lady Heartilly

Hmm, I think I misunderstood one of the statements during this segment, and according to the article posted, other people might have misunderstood it as well. When the stupid lady (because I don't have enough respect for her to use her name) said that women are asexual every 3 and a half weeks, I thought she meant that women never want to have sex until they have their periods and then can't. My roommate pointed out that what she was actually saying was that women are asexual only during their periods, as in only once every three and a half weeks, because sex becomes too messy during that time. Therefore, the segment wasn't trying to say that all women are asexual. They were just trying to say that no one is asexual, but women usually don't want sex when they're heavily bleeding. I just wanted to point that out since the article says that the segment linked being asexual to being a women, when it turns out it was just a tongue-in-cheek joke about periods.

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DracoBorealis

I had Fox News when I still had cable. There's more bullshit there than on a cattle farm.

Wonder when people stop living in the Dark Ages.

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WhenSummersGone

I'm scared to watch this since I get really emotional towards things like this. I'll just say that everytime a video like this comes out, and they do a story like Asexuality or anything else, it really makes me feel that anyone who isn't asexual are just really ignorant and believe their view is right. I mean the ones who can't wrap their heads around asexuality even though we ourselves can't understand sexual attraction in the first place. This is just sad. It almost seems like a war between both sides and we definitely didn't start it. All we want is to be respected and understood for who we are, the way we were born like Homosexuals and Bisexuals

I don't see the petition, does anyone have a link?

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I agree that it's disgusting and sick and if they were talking about the minorities mentioned earlier, they'd be in deep trouble. But I can't help thinking that now FOX have provided some visibility and we just need to provide the education... It might not be such a bad thing in the long run. I doubt many people who saw the believed it, or maybe I have too much faith in their viewers...

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Fox News really isn't as bad as most of you think.

Yeah, it's usually worse

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Hmm, I think I misunderstood one of the statements during this segment, and according to the article posted, other people might have misunderstood it as well. When the stupid lady (because I don't have enough respect for her to use her name) said that women are asexual every 3 and a half weeks, I thought she meant that women never want to have sex until they have their periods and then can't. My roommate pointed out that what she was actually saying was that women are asexual only during their periods, as in only once every three and a half weeks, because sex becomes too messy during that time. Therefore, the segment wasn't trying to say that all women are asexual. They were just trying to say that no one is asexual, but women usually don't want sex when they're heavily bleeding. I just wanted to point that out since the article says that the segment linked being asexual to being a women, when it turns out it was just a tongue-in-cheek joke about periods.

OHH I totally misunderstood what she was saying! Oops lol. Well thinks for clearing that up

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From what I've read from and about Fox News, I would be more offended if they supported and understood asexuality. The people who are woefully misrepresented by Fox News always seem to be the good guys, in my book...

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Batman's Ace

I'd just like to point out that idiots come in all colors, patterns, and political leanings.

To answer the question at the end: we want cake. Insidious, I know.

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Why can't a more intelligent and unbiased news station cover the book instead? >_>

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Batman's Ace

Why can't a more intelligent and unbiased news station cover the book instead? >_>

Or a six-foot-tall oyster.

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Fox, if you're going to make jokes about us, you could at least make the jokes funny. What a bunch of dweebs.

I completely agree.

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It annoys me that people can just get away with saying things like that about asexuality. If that interview were about homosexual people then the public/media would be in an uproar about what was said; just because we're a minority doesn't mean we don't exist or deserve the recognition that other sexualities get.

After watching that quite awful piece of "journalism" I mentioned it to a family friend and made the same statement as you,that if this was about homosexuals,then there would be hell on and an awfull lot of people would be making an awfull lot of apologies.

This person didn't agree.Minorities in the eyes of some will always be mocked and generally made fun of.I'm suprised in a nation like America such unresearched rubbish is allowed to get air time.

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I could see this guys show that I have never heard of before now, is diffidently thinking with the wrong head when talking about asexuality. I wish it was a more serious discussion, pretty bad!!

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Thanks alot kitchenwitch and the others who lead us to sites to sign petitions.

I hope I don't go too far off subject here and just rant about Fox. The video shown is an editorial, not news, because people voice their opinions. Just for that, some would say that it didn't belong on a news network, but rather on a hatred channel. When news program do allow some editorial, they either limit themselves to one respected journalist who can concisely express his view point (introduction-main body-conclusion) or have a panel of people each with a different opinion. That way, the people watching the show can make an opinion for themselves. What Fox News did instead is take a panel of people with the same opinion summing it up in a few sentences. The rapidity and tone of each person denotes a very high confidence that is convicing despite their lack of accuracy, sweeping the viewer to their viewpoint using the form of the message while abandonning content. That has no place on a news network. I don't want to utterly obliterate all viewpoints against asexualtiy as it would be censorship and I'm for free speech but please, if you're going to push, push even. For that reason, I repeat myself, that is a hate message. I signed one of the petitions mentionned on this forum in order not to be accused to make my voice count for two and I strongly encourage you to sign at least one of the petitions.

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Comrade Eden

People have already done this sort of thing (hypothetically eliminate 1% of the population - since it is only a measly 1%), but I did some math, and if we decided not to recognize 1% of the world's population, we could chose not to recognize the lowest 27 states (in terms of population) of the USA). Alternately, we could eliminate California, New York, Massachusetts, and Washington D.C.

I'm actually rather glad that somebody did this - give asexuality further validity when asexuals say that they are discriminated against. Basically, they started the media's discrimination bandwagon. People who don't like Fox will learn about asexuality and then rant about Fox's view on it, which will in turn start the bickering that we need to eventually gain recognition in this society.

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You know I was prepared for something bad. But then I saw it was on RedEye... nothing on RedEye is ever taken that seriously. About the only one who was being serious in what they were saying, as in without making a joke out of it, was the woman and one of the guys.

That being said it was really only the woman who was implying we don't exist. The rest were all like "okay, so you wanna be recognized... what do you mean by that?" and were pretty much making fun of that. And once it got down to the end, as per usual with the RedEye people, they just try to be funny before they cut to a break.

Admittedly they were a bit offensive, but because this is RedEye, it's more or less their job to be offensively funny. I mean if you've ever sat down and watched RedEye then you'd know this really isn't unusual for them and the host, well, he'll make fun of just about anyone or anything.

That all being said...

"I don’t need to recognize you. yes, you exist. Move on."

Is good enough for me! He just said we existed, so I'm taking that in a positive way.

But anyway, point is, yes they were making fun, yes they were also kind of insulting, but most of what they were concerned with was the whole discrimination thing. They probably just don't understand how we're being discriminated against because, well, it's not wide spread or widely known. And also used to when they think of discrimination, well it's not exactly the same kind of discrimination that we go through. They're used to hearing complaining about discrimination because of what people do, not what because people don't do. So in that respect, to them, we're not doing anything worthy of discrimination - because how is not having sex something to discriminate over? Right? At least that seems to be their idea. To them we're just not bothered by things sexual people tend to be bothered by so, hell, that's a good thing! Why are we complaining about that? And why would we be discriminated against for it?

So really they probably just don't completely get it, and why should they be expected to either?

Finally, you have to keep one other thing in mind, these people are commentators, comedians, writers, not really reporters who remain totally unbiased (though reports are never unbiased anyway, but that's aside the point). As commentators, the inject their own opinions on the matter - the matter being whatever happens to land on their desk for their next show.

They actually made a good point too, "I think when they say they want to be represented what do they want" - yeah, fair point, what are we aiming for exactly?

Well anyway, I'm not condoning everything said. I'm just saying they make a few good points, don't deny we exist really (except the woman), and because it's RedEye it just in general should be taken with a grain of salt. I mean RedEye is supposed to be more funny than serious, so sometimes it can be hard to tell if what they're saying is actually serious it just totally sarcastic but hard to tell because most of the damn show is sarcastic and not taken seriously. *shrugs*

So I'm inclined to not get my panties in a twist over it. The host, especially the host, has a tendency to just be either sarcastic or a smart-ass with whatever he say unless he's asking a genuine question. But then he'll come right back and make a joke out of it.

If this were aired on anything else but RedEye, well I might very well be upset over it, but it's RedEye so I know most of them are not being (totally) serious.

So, meh, I'm actually fairly apathetic on the whole matter. It would be interesting to see them interview someone Asexual though, although however it is should be prepared for a non-serious interview. Those really don't happen on RedEye. At least I've never seen one.

That being said, before anyone beats me to it, my political affiliation has nothing to do with my opinions on this matter. It's just RedEye, they're a little crazy in how they act because they can be, because that's part of the show. It being on Fox News doesn't matter, political affiliation doesn't matter when it comes to this sort of thing, it just comes down to the individual people in question - I've known plenty of liberals who were much more malicious about me being Asexual, for example. But the few conservatives I know were all like "okay, cool". It's a little annoying how people are treating them like these people only think this way because they're on a conservative network (I personally don't know, but odds are that not every one of them on the show was conservative either). That being said, the host is a libertarian.

Can't a person just have a stupid idea in their head anymore? No, the stupid idea must be because of a persons political affiliation! Obviously! *rollseyes*

But I've rambled enough. Either way, it's just RedEye, trying to take it seriously is only going to give you a headache. It's a satirical talk show, they make fun of things. Do I think they should apologize? No, no I don't. But if they were going to do anything then I think it would be a much better idea to do a follow-up, with an interview of someone Asexual. I don't believe in making people apologize, apologies should be something you decide to do on your own because you realized what you did/said was hurtful. An apology would serve no purpose.

It would be a much better idea to use this opportunity to promote a little more understanding, don't you think? I mean petitioning for an apology makes us seem like butthurt cry-babies just because we got made a little fun of. It's a bit immature really, too much of an emotional reaction. Getting upset is one thing, but it would be advantageous to seek something positive out of this is all I'm saying. Forcing them to apologize would just leave a negative image of the Asexual community in the minds of some people, esp. if they watch the show, because it's childish, petty, and gains nothing. Rather, we should turn it around and try to find a way to make it work for us without seeming upset over it.

Okay now I really mean it, I'm done. I'm sure most people will disagree with me, but like I really care. I just don't want to be lumped in with whiners when this has the potential to be resolved easily.

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The interesting thing is that I was the only ace they quoted:

"We want asexuality to be recognized as a valid sexual orientation rather than a disorder or something people have to hide." - me

Notably, this does NOT say we want anti-discrimination legislation or that we consider ourselves oppressed. (I think opinion is very much divided within the community on those two.) Yet this is precisely what they commented on and ridiculed.

I agree though that I really can't be angry, given how obviously non-serious the programme is. I do agree with the petition however, as (1) what it says is largely true, (2) it's a good vehicle for raising awareness.

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red_brick_dream

At the risk of sounding callous, it is Fox. These people are such shameless hacks it may as well be the Onion.

Also, Red Eye is their "comedy" segment, if memory serves me correctly. Not that these people are actually funny or anything - being funny usually requires some balance of "intelligent" and "correct." But it's not as "serious" as some of their other fine programming.

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If anything, that makes it worse. I'm a little more offended that Fox (A news network I already have no respect for) see fit to shunt us to the segment of the day they don't even take seriously. That tears it. I'm signing that petition

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From the petition site,

A signer named Elizabeth Pearson wrote:

Fox News claimed that people who feel no sexual attraction are not discriminated against. They are. They were doing it by laughing at them and calling them women. Asexuals are not caused by hormonal changes in their cycles. Asexuals are not people who only want a little sex. Had any memember of the panel at any point actually talked to an asexual they would have known this.

Excellent. I couldn't have phrased it better.

What I also find interesting is the attempt to liken the asexual to a woman.

It validates further my contention (and that of others) that in this society, sex is power.

Asexuality is a direct challenge to sexual power.

And it is this reality that the people at Fox can't stomach.

In fact, many sexuals, not a majority, but many, refuse to deal with challenges to power as historically understood.

This is one of the things that makes asexuality particular, gives it its haecceity.

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They all just came across as uneducated, arrogant bullies to me. Its easy to laugh at things you can never understand but I'd rather be who I am and am happy that my experiences being Asexual have given me a more open mind than these clowns.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Beware The Demopan

Thanks to Fox News, it's hard for me to tell the difference between trolling and being serious.

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Thanks to Fox News, it's hard for me to tell the difference between trolling and being serious.

Poe's Law

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Tomboy Acefellow

I wonder if those people even read the book properly. It seems they just picked something they thought looked funny, took it out of context and threw it as an insult at the author and asexuals just for the sake of their own pleasure.

If they wonder why there would be need for protection against discrimination against asexuals, they themselves pose the answer.

I have never felt a need for protection or recognition, I could live my life as a content hetero romantic asexual without getting an OK stamp from everyone, and if I would have a boyfriend, nobody would know or care what does or doesn't take place in our bedroom. That's a private matter that no one with a good upbringing would ask about (so why do so many cast discretion and tact aside whenever asexuality is concerned?).

But there was a much more important reason that asexuality is an aknowledged orientation for me, and that's the assurance that there is nothing wrong with not wanting to have sex and be happy with it. I used to have intimacy issues caused by childhood experiences (though I was never molested, I want to make that clear). Therapy helped me get over that, but it didn't give me a sex drive. I was just as hetero romantic before the therapy as after. Thanks to all wonderful people here on AVEN, and all serious researchers, I have the valuable knowledge that I am okay and not suffering from some kind of incurable disorder.

That's why I want to say to everyone here; let's not be discouraged by the stupidity uttered in this show! I know there may be a long way to go, and I thought getting asexuality accepted was no big matter with the sexual minority rights movements having come such a long way, but we'll get there eventually. Have faith!

:cake:

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Beware The Demopan

Thanks to Fox News, it's hard for me to tell the difference between trolling and being serious.

Poe's Law

Never knew there was a term for that. Thanks.

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