Most of us probably know what the asexual flag looks like, but how many of us remember what the colors actually mean?
Well, according to the poll I ran recently:
Out of almost 100 responses, less than 20% of people know all four flag color meanings, and a collective almost 45% don't know any of the color meanings, with almost 17% of those not knowing the colors HAD meanings!
That's pretty depressing, if you ask me. Almost half of the responses have no idea what our flag means! And given that I tagged my poll with all ace tags, that's a lot of people in our own community who don't know what our flag means!
So, consider this my newest contribution to the preservation of asexual history: an overview of our flag.
The asexual flag was created in the summer of 2010, through community vote within the asexual community over at @avenpt, after some discussion as to how the AVEN logo represented an organization more than asexuals as a whole, and the short-lived partially-filled heart logo that was proposed was deemed problematic for a variety of reasons.
The final colors of the asexual flag (and their meanings) are as follows, in order from top to bottom:
Black, representing complete and total lack of experiencing sexual attraction. The furthest end of the asexuality spectrum.
Grey, representing the shades of grey between complete lack of sexual attraction and allosexuality, such as demisexuals, grey asexuals, and aceflux' people.
White, representing sexuality and the other furthest end of the spectrum.
Purple, representing community. Because no matter how you experience asexuality, we are all asexual, and we are all one community. Together, we are strong. Together, we rise.
Personally, I think it's pretty amazing that our flag is relatively young, yet it has already become such a powerful and recognizable symbol for our community. I hope that one day the meanings behind our flag are more commonly known again. Our history is how we got to where we are today, and our predecessors worked hard for us to enjoy the freedoms and visibility that we currently have. Let's not let their efforts fade away.
