#asexual stereotypes

[biteofboredom]

not to perpetuate stereotypes or anything but i just fell down the stairs running for garlic bread because i smelt it coming out the oven

[scriptlgbt]

Hi there!

I’m currently in the mid-stages of plotting out a sci-fi series with an lgbtq+ protagonist, who is specifically asexual and lesbian, so she has a female love interest but isn’t interested in sex nor does she experience sexual attraction to any gender. I’m having a few doubts about how to properly represent this character without enforcing any stereotypes about ace people.

For some background, my character is a woman in her late 20s in a sci-fi future where sexual orientations aren’t really a big deal, so people can date/marry/have sex with any gender. But I am worried that because of her personality and situation, her being asexual might come off as a very poor sterotype. She lives mostly alone and has no friends or family at first, and also does not trust other people becaue of events in her past and the grim world she lives in, where crime is very high. She’s also socially awkward due to her lack of interaction with people on a personal level, and is very closed off at first.

However, as the series progresses, she learns to trust others and work with a team, and she becomes more outgoing and less awkward, and never questions her sexuality along the way since she’s an adult and has known that she’s homoromantic/ace for a long time.

I’m worried that these traits may come off as harmful despite her positive character development, the explicit repetition of her sexuality (aka it never changes nor do other people try to change her) and my best intentions. Do you have any advice as to how to ensure she isn’t falling into this stereotype?

- thanks, <3

In general if you're ever worried about depicting one character as a stereotype, having other characters of the same or similar identities (like in this case having someone who is aro or ace who experiences attraction of some other genre besides their aro or aceness would probably work) who do not share the qualities you're worried about is a good call.

But largely I also want to point out that a stereotype becomes a problem when you divorce it from humanity. If you've researched the different ways someone can experience asexuality and written this person as a whole person, and made it clear in-text that these aren't related traits, I think you're golden.

That said: this is probably just a minor wording issue or lack of info given here, but I want to mention that lots of ace people do have interest in sex, whether academic or as a hobby or whatever else. Not having an interest in having sex is a part of many people's asexuality, but it is not a universal default experience. It's the presence of attraction or not which defines asexuality.

mod nat

[prototypesteve]

In fairness, “Asexual Graphic Designer” is pretty much a dead giveaway that I’m the kind of person who’s going to build an indoor thunder cloud and stick googly eyes on all the wire-strippers.

Idk maybe reducing people to their labels and judging their character based on that instead of their actions is getting us absolutely nowhere in terms of social progress

[cosmicredcadet]

Some of you people need to stop acting so shitty over aspec stereotypes because it's starting to get to a point that you are just shitting on the people who experiences match the stereotypes and it's hurting a lot more aspects than it's helping.

[stardustedknuckles]

It's 2023 can we please figure out that asexuality isn't synonymous with sex repulsion already. Lack of attraction and lack of libido are not the same thing, aces can be "hell yes" about sex itself, and a lack of "hell yes" is not the same as active repulsion. I'm not a big movie watcher, but if someone I care about wants to share a movie with me I'll do it for them and very likely enjoy myself even if it doesn't turn me into someone who actively likes movies. It's not difficult.

[starshapedk0ffin]

*In librarian outfit* I am NOT an asexual stereotype! Now excuse me while I go draw respectful nude anatomy studies while horror and sexuality video essays play and I listen to The Magnus Archives! NYAH!

[andresmounts2]

Friendly reminder that not all aroace people are completely repulsed.

Everyone's experiences with being aromantic/asexual vary a lot & that's okay.

Nobody can dictate who's actually aromantic/asexual because sexuality is a fluid thing.

[tangents-within-tangents]

Yellow = yellow

Bananas are yellow, does this mean that yellow = banana?

No, yellow = yellow

Yellow =/= banana, does this mean bananas aren't yellow?

Lemons are yellow, does this mean lemon = banana?

Lemon =/= banana, does this mean lemons aren't yellow?

Some apples are yellow, does this mean yellow = apple?

Some apples are red or green, does this mean apples can't be yellow?

Some apples are red, some apples are yellow, does this mean red = yellow?

Lemons and apples are round but bananas aren't, does this mean bananas aren't yellow?

Apples and bananas are sweet, does this mean lemon's aren't sour? Or that sourness is bad?

Bananas, lemons, and apples are fruit, does this mean mustard isn't yellow?

No, yellow = yellow

A category groups things that share a commonality despite their differences. The differences coexist within that commonality without redefining the category.

Other similarities coexist within, and without, the commonality without redefining the category either. The fact that it doesn't redefine the category does not mean those similarities don't hold significance of their own.

If not for the commonality, it wouldn't be a category. If not for the differences, it wouldn't be a category either.

Okay? Cool

Asexuality = experiencing little to no sexual attraction

[starcallstorm]

Hahaha I'm taking creative license on behalf of all ace peeps on here, in regards to that one co-creator announcing that he envisioned Viktor as Ace by saying:

We thank you, but we'll take it from here. So maybe he's ace? A valid theory. But then maybe he's acespec/ace umbrella. Let's see him Grey Ace! Let's see him Demi! Let's see him AroAce, Cupio, or Litho! Creatively, having a character as Ace restricts nothing. I'm Ace, with a romantic partner I love dearly -- and yes, romantically. Ace people can experience romantic attraction. Sex positive and sex neutral Aces can also engage in sex. Or they can experience no attraction at all and love like family. They still have emotions and compassion and kindness.

Viktor being dubbed Ace as a way to quell the JayVik discourse seems reductive, especially by a man who doesn't understand the intricacies of being asexual himself.

Maybe Viktor is Ace. But that certainly doesn't invalidate all the fanworks that give him a life partner.

I hope we create many more. 😤

[bigmack2go]

Why do disabled people, fat people, authistic ppl and nonbinary always get hc’ed as asexual?

Dgmw have your headcannons, some of them i have too but it’s like all of them are fanon ace? Like i love the representation but is it really representiom if it’s just a concstant stereotype thats e v e r y w h e r e? And mostly no one else gets hc’ed as aro/ace it too! Like do you think just because i’m authistic and disabled and nonbinary i’m ow so innocent and i can’t have sex??? What??

[pigeonmilk117]

When I’m in a being a stereotype competition and my opponent is the characters who aren’t bisexual and straight in the helluverse:

[wishchip106]

gonna need to see this Erik in this outfit.maybe now?? pls 😿🙏

maybe people need to stop being cowards and put comic book movie characters in skintight bodysuits (men specifically‼️‼️)

sometimes we need slutty men to go hand in hand with the slutty women 😔

[nylloth]

Not so happy about Viktor's asexuality. I always knew he was a man of science and not really interested in relationships, you don't need special proof for that, it's evident in the first season. It's just not something he cares about, but that doesn't mean he's giving it up completely either.

What's annoying to me is that you create a male character of non-masculine appearance, with a disability, and start adding things like asexuality and who the hell knows what else they're announcing for him in the future. It actually reinforces stereotypes that these types of men have no attraction or love. That men who don't throw themselves at women/men like dog, who are polite, gentle, considerate, have a certain body type, and so on, are always FEATURED in some way and can't be…. just a man, you know. I'd be pleasantly surprised if they did that with a character like Vander or Jayce. Why? Because they look stereotypically masculine. Such a trait could be unexpected and enjoyable. For Viktor, it's just “well, it's to be expected, he's an disabled stick scientist”.

His later, robotic version, moreover, attributes this to his physical condition rather than personal preference. A robot who has no feelings or emotions is obviously not interested in relationships of any kind. He's more like a savior angel, remembering that they made him extremely religious.

[anistarrose]

This isn't even the main problem with the rhetoric of "you can't headcanon that autistic character as asexual because it's infantilizing," but do people saying that ever realize that, like. If a character has even the lightest seasoning of neurodivergent-coding on them, certain people will infantilize them Regardless of whether ace headcanons are in the picture. People will see a grown adult character who's socially awkward but knowledgeable about a certain topic, and without hesitation decide to write them as an allosexual who barely knows what sex is. Quit blaming ace-spec autistics in fandom for the weird ableists.

[bi-dykes]

Putting the ‘bi’ in ‘Barbie’

[sanestkanadefan]

Misogyny is so commonized in fandoms now a days and it's a big problem. A female can do something wrong and she'll be hated on, or called a pick me if she's outgoing or shy. Meanwhile, a man, who's committed several crimes, has done many wrong things, is seen as the innocent boy, he could do no wrong, he was just feeling silly.

Let me provide examples.

Danganronpa, Sayaka, a character from the first game/anime, is commonly hated for what she did. People often calling her a snake, a pick me, etc. Meanwhile, male characters who have done significantly worse things, Byakuya, Kokichi, Nagito are worshipped.

Hazbin Hotel, many people overlook the canon sapphic ship, for the not yet canon (yes I know husker dust will be canon later, I'm really excited to see their relationship progress) gay ships. Sexualizing a canon asexual character, shipping a lesbian character with a man, calling chaggie boring in comparisons to Husker dust, Radioapple or Vox and Alastor. As a lesbian, who is tired of all the Sapphic erasure, I can say wholeheartedly Chaggie is far from boring. I'm happy we got some representation that is not overly sexualized or watered down to just gal pals being gal pals.

Honkai Star Rail, I'm comparing 2 characters who have done something wrong for this. Sparkle, the mask that is controlling the body of a girl, once said racist remarks to Adventurine, causing people to hate on her. Meanwhile the girl, the body, the puppet, had no control, what the mask did was wrong, yes. But here's where the problem comes in. Dr Ratio, a male, who is loved by the fandom, also said racist things to Adventurine. If you want proof I recommend looking it up on tik tok, I can't remember the creators name but they made an amazing slide show about it. What I'm saying is it's wild how they hate on a girl who has no control over herself, but worships the ground that a male walks on, who has control over what he does and chose to say racist things.

Other examples are hating a female villain, but worshipping the male one. Everyone is all for women's rights until it comes to media, you're allowed to like characters but don't do incoherently sexist things like bringing the men up and bringing the women down for the simplest of things.

That is all thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.