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Eyyyy its Ace Week aka. you should all be aware that asexuality exists, and is a real thing! We're not just shy, celibate prudes (and if we were, that'd be fine too), we just don't feel sexual and/or romantic attraction the same way most humans do.
For the longest time, rather than calling myself ace, I would just say that "my default setting is NO" whenver people asked about my orientation (which was strangely often, now that I think about it??). Lately I've just been going with ace because I'm too old for clever phrasing.
Also, for the longest time, I've had to listen to people telling me I just haven't met the right person yet, being single must suck, do I want to die alone, how can I know I don't want something if I haven't even tried and how is it possible that I've never wanted to fuck anyone.
And the kicker is, I've heard most of these comments from queer people, who don't seem to realise they're pretty much parroting things they've been told by people who don't believe in their queerness. And it boggles the mind, lads!
Straight and queer people alike often seem to have a problem understanding asexuality, because its defined by the LACK of sexual attraction.
If love is love, how do you deal with someone who doesn't feel romantic love? If people can't help who they're attracted to, what do you do when someone isn't attracted to anyone?
And the answer is: you just deal with it. If someone tells you they're ace, say "cool" and move on, basically. It's not your place to start questioning their experience, just as it isn't your place to question ANYONE'S experience.
Also! Aces have heard of sex. We probably know about it! Some have personal experience with it! One of the dumbest things people do when they hear someone is ace, is to start acting like the person is four years old, or completely ignorant to anything related to sex.
In conclusion: we're normal people. The fact that we don't experience sexual and/or romantic attraction like you do doesn't mean we're a bizarre alien species. If you "don't care who anyone sleeps with", you also shouldn't care if they don't sleep with anyone.
Oh, and: aceness is a spectrum, and not all of us are the same. I'm speaking on very broad terms in this thread, since defining everything constantly would not fit in these tweets. This isn't an info thread, so if you're confused, Google is your friend. Edumacate yourself!
