A thread about aphobic "discourse" and how it mirrors, recycles, and pushes homophobic and transphobic rhetoric. Special thanks to @AphobeHottakes whose posts were a great resource for examples of things people say about aspec folks.

Before we start, obviously tw for homophobia, transphobia, biphobia. This includes topics such as conversion therapy, corrective rape, and forced hormone therapy. So, let's start with some examples of aphobia mirroring/recycling these other forms of bigotry, shall we?

1. The idea that asexuality is a result of a hormone imbalance. The idea that they need to be given hormones to "fix" them. This is the exact same attitude that was held about gay men, who were forcibly given estrogen, and to trans people who are told their feelings comes from +

a hormone imbalance. My mom literally told me I needed to take estrogen to fix my gender dysphoria because clearly I had too much testosterone in my system. I'm a trans man, estrogen would only worsen my dysphoria.

2. That we have some sort of medical condition or mental disorder that makes us aspec. This goes hand in hand with number 1, and again this is the same argument that has been used against specifically mlm. "Fixing" this "condition" usually involves conversion therapy.

3. Speaking of conversion therapy, the idea that aspec people need to "go to therapy" to get "fixed". Now where have I heard that one before? Oh right, conversion therapy for literally EVERY OTHER grsm identity.

4. Saying people are aspec just because they're ugly or "can't get laid". This is just the homophobic idea that wlw and specifically lesbians are only the way they are because they can't get men.

5. Saying aspec people just need to find or have sex with the right person. This is a recycled version of the idea that wlw and specifically lesbians "just need a good strong man". It is also in many cases advocating for corrective rape.

6. Saying aspec identities are a result of trauma. Again, this has been used against just about any grsm identity I can think of. Trans people, lesbians, gay men, everyone. And now we're using it on aspec people because recycling your own oppression is good, actually. /s

7. Saying aspec identities are a phase, or newly invented. This is a particularly common argument against bi and trans people, saying that they will "grow out" of their identities, or that their identities only exist because of the internet.

8. Now here are a few of my favorites as a trans person. Literally just terfs using terf rhetoric to also attack aspec identities. You'll hear a lot of this "lgbt is for same sex attracted people and trans people" usually with trans people as an afterthought, and this +

isn't just coming from terfs (even though it's just terfs in the screenshots). Using same sex attraction as the mark for belonging to the community and then tacking trans folks at the end is a very easy road into just including same sex attracted people. As for the "I've never +

seen it" argument, not only is it an argument from ignorance (ie I don't see it therefore it doesn't exist) but it's a talking point used by terfs about transphobia. Furthermore, erasing one form of bigotry as just a result of another (such as homophobia or misogyny) is +

something else terfs and transphobes love to do about transphobia. "Oh trans women getting beaten is a result of misogyny, not transphobia". That is how you sound when you say this about aphobia.

9. "Allo is a slur" and "lumping gay people and straight people together is wrong" is literally just the issues terfs take with "cis". The adjectives white and male are also lumping together gay and straight people as oppressive groups and you have no problem with them.

10. That aspec people just want to be oppressed/feel special, are lying, or make the community look like a joke. As I've mentioned before, this has roots in transphobia. The same thing has been said about trans people since the first pride. Not only that, but it mirrors +

the biphobic idea that bi people just want to be special/oppressed, and that they're lying. Read these examples and tell me how similar they sound.

Alright, so let's talk about some other talking points that I unfortunately don't have examples of on hand.

1. "Aroaces are just het people trying to get into the community" and any other version of calling aspec identities THEMSELVES "just het"

This is literally pushing heteronormativity. You are turning straight into the default, where everyone is straight unless stated otherwise. +

Being aroace isn't "straight but not liking people" it's a separate identity. You are literally saying everyone is straight unless they specifically tell you they're gay, you absolute clowns.

2. "Letting hets into the community"

So yes, some aces and aros are heteroromantic or sexual respectively. But you know what else brings het people into the community? Trans people. So unless you want to exclude trans people using this terf rhetoric, stop saying this.

3. "Bringing oppressors into the community"

Same as before, this is used against trans people by terfs, specifically it's commonly used against lesbian trans women who are seen as "male oppressors trying to invade our spaces"

These are only SOME of the examples I've come across in my less than a year of being out as aroace. I am begging y'all to PLEASE reevaluate yourselves, and ask yourselves why you think/say these things. Is it that aspec people really pose a threat, or is it internalized bigotry?