AsexualArtists.wordpress.com has been on indefinite hiatus since 2021 because it was catching so much hate and harassment.
Some people don't believe our culture persecutes aces. Some might say that Christianity, a religion whose sacred texts are mostly ascribed to two well-known celibates, has been supportive of asexuality. Historically this was true--sort of; enough of the early Christians were hermits that the largest Christian denominations have officially supported monasteries for people who didn't want to center their lives around sexuality. (Most of those people were not ace, or even postsexual; this led to problems.) However, most American Christians don't have monasteries and many churches overtly disrespect single adults...and in cyberspace...
Asexuality was feared, in the twentieth century, because Freud noted that classic schizophrenics are asexual. Which is like noting that classic schizophrenics are young. Most young people are at no risk for classic schizophrenia and so are most aces.
There is, however, a correlation between asexuality and a milder form of mental illness: Temporary asexuality is one of the most common side effects of antidepressants.
Asexuality usually is temporary. We all start out ace--we start out as children. Some young people remain ace because their hormones haven't changed this. Usually the change from asexual, or presexual, to heterosexual simply arrives later than usual. If not the most common cause of sexuality, this is the most common reason why people identify as ace. People who become asexual later in life usually identify as whatever their hormones indicated that they were going to be when they were seventeen, although their spouses identify them as asexual, often in bitter and misinformed terms.
Other causes of asexuality are more concerning, including long lists of drugs and disease conditions, before midlife, when the usual cause is that hormone levels simply drop. In all cases, asexuality is a physical condition people couldn't have chosen if they'd wanted to. It does no harm to anyone else. It's not incompatible with Christian morality. There's no reason why people should harass asexuals. There's every reasons why parents, teachers, churches, and even employers should support asexuals: Aces spread no diseases, don't contribute to overpopulation, don't threaten other people's marriages, and can do more with less money because sexual activity costs money. Aces have no trouble obeying the seventh Commandment, though they may have trouble with the tenth.
Relatively few people are true lifelong aces. When they are the causes can include rare genetic patterns, some of which do no harm at all to the individual apart from the individual's sterility, and the individuals may benefit from having more time and energy for their work. Twentieth century artists Dare Wright and Edward Gorey appear to have been lifelong asexuals.
However, those who harass asexuals seem to believe that if only asexuals didn't have any social support they'd be as lust-ridden as the harassers. Testosterone poisoning is a real thing.
(Asexuals do feel attractions and attachments to other people, sometimes described as "romantic" or "semiromantic." Sometimes these "pure" friendships break up, because one person finds someone to marry or just because people drift apart over time. Sometimes they devolve into sexual relationships and can include marriage. A cutesy-wutesy term for aces who, after a few years, become sexually attracted to an opposite-sex friend and marry person in the usual way, is "Ace of Hearts.")
During the 2010s the AsexualArtists blog introduced hundreds of young artists, some of whom may be successors to Wright and Gorey. Some of their interviews with these artists were linked at this web site. I've not heard more about their career breakthroughs, during these dire years of COVID panic and automated plagiarism. But I hope that one day we all will. It would be a very fine thing if, regardless of how many of the group remained asexual, AsexualArtists became a social site that supported long-distance, long-term friendships.
No comments:
Post a Comment