ACE ON ACE Volume 2 Issue 2
ACE ON ACE
A monthly newsletter brought to you by Ace Los Angeles
Vol. 2, Issue 2
Hello Aces, Aros, and Allies!
Welcome back to Ace Los Angeles’s monthly newsletter. I must once again apologize for disappearing immediately after launching this new and improved version. I could offer an excuse, but well, who cares really, I’m gonna try to keep on track and get you these newsletter’s on time and every month from now on. Any explanations recent changes or reasons for why the newsletter is set up this way can be found in previous issues.
Please enjoy -V
April 6th is International Asexuality Day (IAD), which is “a coordinated worldwide campaign promoting the ace umbrella, including demisexual, grey-asexual and other ace identities […] that aims of recognizing and enabling the work that the international ace community and organizations do, particularly in non-Western and/or non-English speaking countries.”
This year to celebrate IAD there will be a 24hr steam on April 6th, a collaboration with various international asexual organizations, details will be announced soon here.
In honor of International Asexuality Day I’d like to highlight two organizations that offer education and support as well as social meet-ups for aces and aros in non-western countries: Aromantic and Asexual Support PH and Indian Aces both of which have public social media accounts on a variety of platforms.
As of June 2023, Ace LA will alternate between outdoor in-person (weather permitting) and virtual meetups. For in-person meetups and volunteering, you will be asked to mask unless eating or drinking and will be required to sign a waiver stating you understand the risk of exposure, and that you absolve Ace Los Angeles of any liability. Masks are available on request.
Ace LA has social meetings the second Sunday of every month.
1:30pm - New Member Meeting
2pm - General Meeting The next meeting is on April 14th on zoom.
Ace LA’s Business meetings are online, the first Wednesday of every month. 7:00pm - Business Meeting The next meeting is on April 3rd.
All meetings are open and we hope to see you there!
Our Ears Are Burning!
This section is where we link you to articles and studies on asexuality and aromantisim.
The Pink News published a list of 10 queer women for International Women’s Day, which included, of course, the lovely Yasmin Benoit.
An update on the effort to add asexuality and pansexuality to Delaware’s definition of sexual orientation: after some debate (typical anti-queer arguments regarding the existence of discrimination against those groups and the apparently request invoking of pedophilia) the bill has passed the initial committee vote. The bill will now be voted on by the state House of Representatives.
Science, Quickly podcast from The Scientific American have a brief episode on how researchers and academics understanding of asexuality has changed recently and increased efforts to study asexuality.
Hannah Tessler and Canton Winer offer a summary of their paper on men in the ace and aro communities, and the how romance and sex are tied into performing masculinity. Like many research and academic works, the full paper is not publicly accessible, this summary offers a little insight into some of the work being done regarding asexuality.
Ezra Klein features author Rhaina Cohen on his podcast, in which they discuss her new book “The Other Significant Other”. The hour long interview is a very interesting discussion on how society prioritizes romantic relationship and devalues platonic ones and alternative ways of constructing our social life. However, the conversation can feel very introductory and it seems almost pointed that aromantisim and asexuality are never brought up.
Tell Me a Story...
In this section we will spotlight an asexual or aromantic character in media and media related news.
A brief list of 5 manga focusing on asexual characters.
Following up from a submission opportunity in January, here are the submissions from the Carnival of Aros on the topic of the Meaning of “Romance” Across Time and Place.
Asexual scholar Dr. Ela Pryzbylo recently gave a talk at Colgate University, this write-up from the school paper, delves into some of the topics including compulsive sexuality and media representation.
Check out this photo series by photographer James Klung of “The A Show” a cabaret featuring ace and aro spec performers.
finally, we have a blog post by an aromantic gamer discussing issues with how romance is presenting in video games, from forced romantic interests to heavy pressure in and out of game to play with a romance path in mind.
Also, look out for an interview with the director of short ace film “Welcome to Celibacy Club” to be posted here on our site and our social media soon.
In Our Own Words:
This section is where we will feature personal essays, reflections, and stories.
Recently featured on the podcast “Coming Out”, where the host interviews people on their coming out stories and experiences, is Maddy Kling, a bisexual and demisexual dance movement therapist. If you have an hour you should give it a listen.
Alternatively (or additionally) you can check out “A Not So-Romantic Love Story” a 30 minute episode of Huffington Post’s podcast “D is for Desire” all about sex, love, and relationships, and hear from a woman who discovered her asexuality later in life.
Just Because I’m Asexual, It Doesn’t Mean My Life is Less Important- a personal essay that nicely details how difficult it can be for asexuals in a society that seems to think sex and romantic relationships are not only what determines your value but also your participation in social circles.
A first-person exploration of asexuality as a Jewish woman. A fascination look into some of the ways that sex can be heavily tied to adulthood and spirituality within religion.
Married couple Daren and Jenn M Jackson talk with the Huffington Post as part of the series Black Love on Our Terms about their relationship, asexuality, polyamory, gender, and parenting.
Several aromantics in Singapore discuss their identity as well as the social, legal, and financial challenges that not participating in marriage and having children can have.
and finally, a profile on Bella DePaulo, a scholar on single life and author of the book “Single at Heart”. While not explicitly a bout asexuality, there is a lot of overlap in the challenges and cultural pushback faced by both groups.
The More You Know
In this section we will provide links to articles and resources designed to educate and inform on asexuality and aromanticism.
If you want to check out AUREA’s presentation for Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week, you can find the slides and a video of the presentation here.
Ace Dad Advice has a recent video talking about queerplatonic relationships and his personal experience with them.
For Valentines Day, AZE Journal wrote briefly on the history of platonic love.
AZE also released a video on societal rejection and response to asexual, aromantic, and agender identities.
We Want You!
This section is for informing you of requests for participation of aces and aros by other organizations, including studies, surveys, archive efforts, media projects, interviews, and policy / community feedback.
These surveys are still ongoing:
Towson University is looking for Asian American asexuals to discuss intersectionality and family relationships.
University of Southern Queensland is doing a study on psychedelic drug use among queer people.
AUREA (Aromantic-Spectrum Union for Recognition, Education, and Advocacy) is asking for your experiences as part of a book project on aromantisim and intersectionality.
For anyone looking for creative opportunities:
AZE Journal has open submissions for asexual, aromantic, and agender writers on the topic deconstructing the idea love. Submissions can include many different kinds of written or non-written work and are open until April 15th.
And finally:
A-specs Committed to Anti-Racism has a living document Actionable Ways to Support Palestinians in Gaza on day 172 of the genocide.
What’s the Word?
This last section is dedicated to featuring the definition of a word or phrase to encourage broader understanding and discussion of asexual and aromantic topics.
Language is about communication, an agreed meaning between people, it is by nature imperfect. And as long as people are using it, it will continue to evolve and change, and so will our understanding of ourselves and others . Which is just a fancy way of saying words don’t always mean the same thing, and nobody agrees 100% of the time on what they do mean. This section is an attempt to bring you concepts and words that help define our community and our experiences, and in my best attempt to accomplish that I will offer multiple different definitions from multiple sources, because I believe that the best way to understand something is describe it from multiple angles.
Our Word of the Month is Demisexual/Demisexuality:
Feeling sexual attraction towards another person only after establishing an emotional bond with that person. (Miriam-Webster)
A sexual orientation in which an individual does not experience primary sexual attraction – the type of attraction that is based on immediately observable characteristics such as appearance or smell and is experienced immediately after a first encounter. A demisexual person can only experience secondary sexual attraction – the type of attraction that occurs after the development of an emotional bond. The amount of time that a demisexual individual needs to know another person before developing sexual attraction towards them varies from person to person. (Wikipedia)
Someone who only experiences sexual attraction after establishing a close emotional and/or romantic connection with another person/persons. (Oxford University LGBTQ+ Society)
Thought of You…
This section is just for short videos, social media posts, etc. anything too short or trivial for other sections, a little offering of enjoyment to our readers.
Prompted by a request for writing advice, one author offered a thread on writing the difference between platonic and sexual affection, while another author pointed out how expressions of affection change depending on time period and culture.
A-spec author Yilin wrote a thread on the Chinese term zhīyīn and the connection they’ve found with queerplatonic relationships.
A short funny video on asexual identity and trauma.
We love to hear from you! Letters to the editor can be sent to asexalitylosangeles@gmail.com
And to keep your lovely editor from feeling unappreciated and full of melancholy, please tells us what you loved (or hated) or think we missed.