Read on Twitter
okay it’s apparently time for me to read this and get mad on behalf of myself and everyone else who has been writing about asexuality in books for years https://twitter.com/ElectricLit/status/1308435889261916160
I’d like it to be noted that I wrote about the need for more asexual representation in books in April 2016. The list I had for YA books was horrifically small and features one book that was unpublished at the time and I would never endorse now http://www.yainterrobang.com/asexual-representation-in-ya-julie-daly/
I’d also like it to be noted that I’ve kept a running list of books with ace main characters since August 2016. I haven’t updated it in over a year but there’s still HUNDREDS of titles. https://quietya.tumblr.com/post/149428095160/books-with-asexual-main-characters
“sex really is the only thing that means intimacy” is. Such a bizarre thing to say? Even before I understood the depth of asexuality and what it meant for me, I never would’ve though that sex was the only way to obtain intimacy? Do many people think this?
"Everything intimate, everything romantic is acquainted with sex.”
have y’all not seen the Hand Touching in Pride and Prejudice (2005) because….?
have y’all not seen the Hand Touching in Pride and Prejudice (2005) because….?
"Literary fiction is often very specific...: what it’s like to be a middle-aged white man who has a drinking problem and his history and his life, or a professor who is lusting after one of his college students.”
1. Read more literary fiction?
2. Read something besides literary
1. Read more literary fiction?
2. Read something besides literary
I don’t read a lot of literary fiction because a lot of it DOES fit the same mold. But there’s also plenty that DOESN’T - Such a Fun Age comes to mind. And if you’re not finding what you want in literary fiction and dislike it so much….read something else.
"I think there are people who don’t actually even want to write romance, but because they know they want to write literary fiction, they think, 'Oh, it has to have a romantic plot.’”
Romance! And literary fiction! Are two different things!
Romance! And literary fiction! Are two different things!
There are also quite a few romances featuring asexual people they exist and it is not hard to find them if you can use google.
Also, romance and literary fiction are different things, but romance also doesn’t inherently mean sex has to be involved? Aren’t Amish romances and Christian romances super popular?
"Some of my favorites don’t even have romance, like Cormac McCarthy’s The Road”
ah yes that little known title if only more people were aware of it
ah yes that little known title if only more people were aware of it
"romance gets identified as a different genre, like YA or science fiction or fantasy.”
So literary fiction “needs” to have romance but YA and sci-fi and fantasy don’t? There’s no expectation there? There’s no romance subgenre in those areas? okay.
So literary fiction “needs” to have romance but YA and sci-fi and fantasy don’t? There’s no expectation there? There’s no romance subgenre in those areas? okay.
"to only see themselves in fantasy or sci-fi or made-up worlds for children?”
One of the best depictions of asexuality as I experience that I’ve ever read was literally in a book about a college student but I guess it was ~YA~ so it doesn’t count as a real book.
One of the best depictions of asexuality as I experience that I’ve ever read was literally in a book about a college student but I guess it was ~YA~ so it doesn’t count as a real book.
"But for other people, maybe genre is less accessible in some ways, and it’s certainly less of a shared cultural touchpoint.”
You really wanna tell me YA isn’t a shared cultural touchpoint? REALLY?
You really wanna tell me YA isn’t a shared cultural touchpoint? REALLY?
"genre is often ahead of the mainstream when dealing with social issues”
1. YA still! Isn’t! A genre!
2. If you’re looking for books about social issues and you know they’re not as available as you’d like in literary fiction, read! Something! Else!
1. YA still! Isn’t! A genre!
2. If you’re looking for books about social issues and you know they’re not as available as you’d like in literary fiction, read! Something! Else!
"There’s a sense that your story is not important enough to come into the mainstream.”
I. Have literally never felt like because most of the depictions of asexuality I’ve read were in YA that my story wasn’t important NOR did I feel it wasn’t mainstream?
I. Have literally never felt like because most of the depictions of asexuality I’ve read were in YA that my story wasn’t important NOR did I feel it wasn’t mainstream?
Literally every book is important. Every book is a lifeline for some reader out there. Why, as a writer, would you minimize that? Why would you pretend that’s not true?
I’m sorry I did not expect to get this mad but CHRIST
"The cultural spaces in which asexuality exists affect the culture of asexuality itself. And the culture of asexuality affects who has access to it and who might be able to find a place in it and find helpful resources.”
do you think teens are reading literary fiction?
do you think teens are reading literary fiction?
So many ace people I knew wish that they understood asexuality when they were younger, myself included. Having asexual characters in YA and in fanfic and in the spaces teens actually want to be is one of the BIGGEST things we can do to change that going forward.
"Even within the literary fiction category, books without sex or romance get relegated to subgenres like “war novels,” right?”
No that’s just literary fiction what are you people TALKING about
No that’s just literary fiction what are you people TALKING about
"Literary fiction is supposedly that realm for important “human stories” that aren’t about an event or in a genre or anything else, books about the human experience, but they can be so limited in terms of representing other experiences”
ah yes there’s just none of this in YA
ah yes there’s just none of this in YA
"When you turn inward and you think “what is an exciting, rich multilayered experience I can write about?” the first thing most people land on is romance.”
There is a criticism to be had for the importance we’ve put on romance as a society but….no?
There is a criticism to be had for the importance we’ve put on romance as a society but….no?
Once most of us have grown up a little bit, we have the ability to understand all the incredible details that make up a life. Friendships and family relationships are hugely complex, fascinating experiences!
And the biggest thing in speculative fiction is that it can take the more mundane aspects about real life and make them more exciting by putting them in a world entirely new to us. They’re still relatable, still help us unpack our world. But with a cooler setting.
There’s this whole section about books from the early 1900s/1920s featuring women who just need to find the “right one” to be less “frigid” and to end their ambitions and like…you can’t analyze the view of sexuality a century ago like it’s today???
"But if you only ever see depictions of something you identify with as non-human, or as set in the future, or as animated, there literally is no direct connection to who you are as a person, as an introspective being”
this is a very, very white sentence but also no?
this is a very, very white sentence but also no?
I’m not even going to break that sentence down but do y’all think? YA? Doesn’t feature actual human characters? What is this?
"I am hopeful that representations of asexuality will move beyond 101.”
YES WE HAVE DONE THAT IN BOTH YA AND SPECULATIVE FICTION AND YA SPECULATIVE FICTION AMAZING GROUNDBREAKING
YES WE HAVE DONE THAT IN BOTH YA AND SPECULATIVE FICTION AND YA SPECULATIVE FICTION AMAZING GROUNDBREAKING
"I want to see more, I want to see deeper, I want there to be a plethora of options, instead of the same three doors.”
Stop hiring people who apparently can’t be bothered to google to write about things they seem to know nothing about ffs.
Stop hiring people who apparently can’t be bothered to google to write about things they seem to know nothing about ffs.
I absolutely agree we need more depictions of asexuality and a broader range of them - there are so few demisexuals and graysexuals named on page - but erasing the ones that DO exist and the wide swath of experiences they represent is lazy work.
I find it especially callous because a lot of people writing aces in YA or in SFF are trans and/or BIPOC. Many have disabilities, many have other queer intersections, and this just ignores their contributions to the asexual canon.
I also desperately hope somebody sits down with the two people in this article and explains aromanticism to them because I think they’re still really confused.
Now that THAT’S done
here’s an entire database of SFF with asexual characters. It’s super detailed and such a great resource. https://claudiearseneault.com/?page_id=1320
here’s an entire database of SFF with asexual characters. It’s super detailed and such a great resource. https://claudiearseneault.com/?page_id=1320
Here, again, is my personal database of books with asexual main characters. There’s lots of caveats in the post and it’s a year out of date but there’s plenty to work with! https://quietya.tumblr.com/post/149428095160/books-with-asexual-main-characters
And here’s a thread I did a couple weeks ago with a bunch of my favorite ace books https://twitter.com/DailyJulianne/status/1303504488049901570
