Asexuality is a lack of sexual attraction. That’s it.
Okay so aces can’t have sex or anything to do with sex?
Nope, that’s not what I said.
Sexual behavior does not determine sexual orientation or lack thereof.
Asexuals can:
– Have a sex drive (libido)
– Masturbate
– Watch porn
– Have dirty minds
– Bake cookies
– Have sex
– Have children
– Get married
– Play sports
– Fall in love
…Or they can have zero interest in any of these things, and none of this has anything to do with their status of being asexual.
Wait, if they can have sex then how are they asexual?!
Asexuals can have sex for lots of reasons. Some want to be close to their partner, or want to have kids, some don’t know they are asexual and have sex just because they think that’s what everyone is supposed to do, some get pressured into sex, some have a libido and have sex purely as a way to get off, but still don’t feel any sexual attraction. Some never have sex, never masturbate, and never understand the point of it.
Every asexual experience is different. Aces can range from sex-repulsed, to completely indifferent, to very sex positive! What all aces have in common is that they don’t feel sexual attraction, or very rarely ever feel sexual attraction.
How do you know if you’ve felt sexual attraction or not?
For some, there is never any doubt they are asexual. For others, sexual attraction can get confused with platonic, aesthetic, romantic, or even sensual attraction. Ultimately, it comes down to the individual to decide whether the asexual label suits them or not.
(Note: Platonic attraction is basically wanting to be friends with someone, Aesthetic attraction is finding someone beautiful (not necessarily ‘standard’ beauty, whatever is beautiful to you), Romantic is wanting to date someone and that can mean different things to different people, Sensual is wanting to have non-sexual contact with someone like kissing, touching, cuddling, and Sexual attraction is wanting to have sexual contact with someone.)
I don’t understand any of this!
It is absolutely okay to not understand asexuality! Trust me, asexuals don’t understand non-aces either. Just remember that even if it’s hard for you to understand, that doesn’t mean it isn’t real! (I don’t understand calculus, but it’s still real!)
How can I be a good ally?
– Educate yourself, read more about it, ask an ace if it’s okay to ask them questions! Odds are, you probably already know a bunch of people who are asexual even if you think you don’t.
– If you have asexual friends, ask them what they are comfortable with in regards to even talking and joking about sex, and then do your best to respect that. Some have dirtier minds than anybody, some are indifferent either way, but others might not be comfortable around any kind of sex talk. Just ask!
– Don’t make acephobic comments. Stuff like, “but everybody wants sex, it’s just natural”, “are you even human?”, “have you seen a doctor/therapist?”, “you’ll change your mind when you meet the right person”, “you’re too young to know”, “you just want attention”, “you must think you’re better than everyone else”, “you can’t be asexual because (I think I know your life better than you)”, “you’re just a prude/frigid/naive”, “you’re never going to have a happy relationship”, “if you don’t have sex with your partner, you don’t really love them”, “how do you know if you’ve never tried it?”, “asexual? so you think you’re a plant/sponge?”, “asexuality isn’t real”, “acephobia isn’t real”… etc and so on, are dehumanizing and just plain ignorant, even if you think you mean well. If you wouldn’t want someone saying that to you, don’t say it to us!
– Don’t erase us. Don’t invalidate us. It’s that simple. Even if you can’t understand asexuality, it’s 100% okay to say, “I don’t understand your experience, but I still support you.”
We aren’t weird, we aren’t trying to be special. Asexuality has always existed, it isn’t new, but lately we’re finally able to say, “Hey, by the way, we exist” and have pride in ourselves. All you need to do is say, “Okay, cool.” Respect it, and carry on. That’s it.
It’s so weird seeing these gifs because when you actually watch the show they do it so gradually that you barely even notice (at least I didn’t) but then you look at these and it’s like, whoaa. Even Winry has a completely different face, it’s not just Ed getting taller and more muscular.
Animation, you’re doing it right.
especially when you consider this happens in what, a year? a year and a half?
This is actually one of the things I love most about FMA. They age so gradually, just like real people. A lot of times in anime and other animation, there’s not really a slow process of growing up; it’s just sort of, “Hey, look, she has curves now, and he’s way taller.”
at some point we do need to come to grips with the reality that facts are often ineffective at converting people, and figure out a way that is more effective without being widely unethical
I’m frustrated by seeing posts about how climate change is SO OBVIOUSLY real when the core problem is that the people who don’t buy into it either are ideologically/financially biased against the idea, or think science is fake and gay
it doesn’t help that the far left relentlessly criticizes any attempts made to recruit or appeal to centrists for “not being radical enough”. the far right is already relentlessly propagandizing whatever the fuck they want, and at this point refusing to match those efforts with leftist propaganda on the grounds of moral or ideological purity is not only useless but self-defeating. also it turns out being cruel and condescending to people whose opinions might have been swayed serves no fucking purpose other than to prop up the egos of those doing the belittling – who knew?
the simple truth of the matter is that it’s not enough to be correct. it doesn’t matter that the things I say are true and the things my enemy says are false. that, on its own, is not and has never been and will never be enough to convince anyone of anything. you have to be able to sell it. that’s just how human beings work. you can despise that fact all you like, but it’s how things work, and if you genuinely want truth to win against falsehood you don’t have the room to refuse to stoop to advertising it. look up cognitive dissonance and belief disconfirmation. being proven wrong makes people cling harder to their falsehoods. you have to stop pretending that people are rational and logical creatures. if you refuse to play dirty when your enemy is rolling in dirt, you. will. lose.
just moving along like everyone else 