More acephobes than you might think will actually use their acephobic rants to segue into their anti-sex work stances, especially their anti-porn stances, or vice versa (anti-porn rants that swerve into acephobia). Taken out of context, this sounds like a contradiction... until you realize the specific belief of these people is that porn "rots the brain," eventually making its viewers incapable of "normal" sexual attraction and desire.
In the eyes of the anti-porn acephobes, this is subsequently taken both as one of their reasons that porn is bad, and one of their reasons that asexuals (especially sex-favorable or kinky asexuals) are somehow upholding sexual oppression. Unsurprisingly for an anti-sex work stance, this belief relies on a sex-negative misapplication of feminism, as well as a pathologization of sexuality (in this case, asexuality).
Now, where does that pathologization come from? The same place pathologization of queerness and sexuality usually does: religious purity culture. To say that "porn will make you incapable of the 'right' sexual desires" is a very, very typical conservative Christian belief. It ties into the "moral" obligation to "save" your sexual "purity," so you can have the "right" kind of sex (read: monogamous cishet sex in wedlock) — and especially in the case of women, to "please" your cishet male partner.
In fact, most moral panics about something, anything, "turning the kids [insert queer identity]!" follow this blueprint. The queer identity in question is the threat to fundamentalists because it could induce a departure from monogamous cishet sex in wedlock, and/or pose a closely related threat to the cishetero-patriarchal status quo. There's been a dangerous rise in overlap between transphobic and acephobic conspiracy theories, alleging that gender-affirming care turns children asexual — with the implication, almost too obvious in the eyes of the conspiracy-peddlers for them to bother mentioning, that asexual trans bodies are bad because they inherently depart from the one "natural" and "healthy" relationship to sex, where conveniently, the only relationship to sex that's allowed to be "natural" and "healthy" is the specific one that cishetero-patriarchy demands. Anything else is "deviant," and worse, "hurting the children."
So, returning to "porn causes asexuality" conspiracy theory? Well, when it comes from acephobes who are outside of the queer community, and in particular, acephobes who openly affiliated with right-wing Christianity, it's disturbing but not surprising. They are, after all the ones who invented this genre of conspiracy theory. They are compulsory sexuality's biggest proponents.
But when it comes from acephobes who are in the LGBTQ+ community? Who didn't invent these conspiracy theories, and are in fact themselves harmed by their slightest variations? It's disturbing for a whole additional reason — the fact that these culturally Christian beliefs are going unchallenged. It's disturbing that conspiracy theories and pathologizing statements about queerness are circulated when they overlap so heavily with homophobia and especially transphobia. It's disturbing that their anti-sex work attitudes, in and of themselves, could lead them down the SWERF/TERF pipeline — particularly if they already lean towards radical feminism, and/or beliefs about "fake identities" and "invaders to the Community."
Therefore, refusing to interrogate and unlearn culturally conservative beliefs — sex negativity, compulsory sexuality, and their underdiscussed overlap — has effects on the whole queer community, including but never limited to asexuals. We all suffer when sex-negative, queerness-pathologizing theories are perpetuated. For that reason, we need to speak up to shut that bullshit down, before it can spread and fester.
TL;DR: Acephobes, both inside and outside of the LGBTQ+ community, blend culturally Christian anti-porn attitudes with recycled homophobic, transphobic, "corrupting influence turning the kids queer" tropes. De-platforming any validation of this rhetoric, no matter who it targets, is vital to collective queer liberation.
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