#sorry to discord friends who have heard this essay from me in chat form 50 times already

[dathen]

One of the things that gets lost in all the “all the women in TMA hate Jon!” jokes is the chance to analyze Jon’s relationships with the women of the show in the context of him being an ace man.

Years and years ago, I wrote an essay about the fandom trope of “The Ace Misogynist.”  At the time, there weren’t really any canon asexual characters to talk about, so you had your handful of characters popularly interpreted that way--Sheldon, Sherlock, etc.  The clues people would pick up on to support the asexual interpretation were often misogynistic; this “I have no use for women” attitude common with nerdy or cerebral male characters in fiction.  I don’t have the essay anymore, but the sexist and acephobic aspects of “if I’m not sexually attracted to women I have no use for them” are plain to see.  

I cannot express enough how much I love that Jon is written as the complete opposite of this.  Setting aside the “all women hate Jon” jokes for a second, let’s look at how his relationships with the women in TMA actually develop:

Sasha got along with Jon better than any of the other assistants, felt comfortable teasing and badgering him.  Between their banter in TMA 24 and her statement in TMA 26, it’s heavily implied that she’s on a similar wavelength as him and gets him in a way the others don’t.  Despite starting out on the team with a lot of baggage between them, she warmed up quickly.

Georgie was out of contact with Jon for years, but it’s plain to see the easy dynamic they fell into as soon as he showed up again.  She seemed completely comfortable with the idea of him staying in her house.

Basira grew comfortable with Jon so quickly it flat-out shocked Daisy.  Basira started out investigating Jon for murder, but quickly grew fond of him, thought he was funny, and even began taking risks to help him.  Season 4 developments aside, Basira took to Jon so quickly that Daisy suspected there were supernatural elements at play.

And then Daisy!  As soon as monster hunter mode took a backseat, they fell into one of the best friendships in the entire show in an instant.  She became his friend and protector without hesitation, shares her interests with him, looks forward to spending time with him.

In discussions I’ve had with a lot of fellow TMA fans, many have noted that the quick comfort the women in the show (aside from Melanie) have with Jon resembles their interactions with their male asexual friends.  The things brought up most often are an undercurrent of comfort, an overall feeling of safety, and skipping past that initial phase of “can we be friends or does he think this is Going Somewhere.”  Of course this is all anecdotal, and there could be plenty of people whose experiences don’t line up with this, but it was enough that some fans were getting ~ace vibes~ from Jon long before the confirmation in TMA 106.  In addition to this are the perspectives I’ve read over the years from ace men about relationships in general.  I won’t go into too much detail here without actual articles to link, but a common theme comes up over and over: how central hypersexual heterosexuality is in social expectations for male friendships, and how much that hindered developing those friendships in their lives.

How much of this was intentional in Jon’s writing is anyone’s guess.  He was planned to be asexual all the way back in season 1, but the addition and increased importance of so many female characters was in response to Sasha’s voice actor leaving, Basira’s popularity with fans, Fay’s compelling portrayal of Daisy, etc.  Whatever led to it, though, it’s wonderful to see a canonically asexual male main protagonist be so opposite to the Ace Misogynist Trope I railed against so many years ago.  Writing an asexual character extends beyond just their relationship to sex, and it’s fun to pick out other details like this that ring true.