the thing that rly gets ME is that exclusionists assume that these things don’t exist because they haven’t seen them.
there’s this repeated logical fallacy in the discourse where people assume that because they don’t know of ace-related historical ephemera, or they don’t know of shared experiences aces have with the rest of us, or they don’t know of any examples of ace oppression, those things do not exist.
and then they begin all their arguments at the “these things do not exist” point.
mind you, what i should actually be annoyed by is the fact that no matter what I cite, they’re like U MADE THAT UP like really??? that’s the best you got????
that’s basically an admission that what I gave you DOES destroy your argument and that all you can do is be like “well then it must be fake.”
examples of lesbian and gay publications casually referencing asexuals
all examples below are from a new primary source collection, Archives of Human Sexuality and Identity: LGBTQ History and Culture since 1940, which contains approximately 1.5 million pages from organizations in Canada, the US, Mexico, and the UK.
I have access to it through the San Francisco Public Library; if anyone’s local/school library doesn’t give them access, i’d be happy to share my login, just message me. It’s really easy to search and has amazing stuff.
Here’s a page from a 47-year-old issue of “It Ain’t Me Babe,” which was California’s first feminist newspaper, and then became the first national feminist newspaper. The opening line of this article: “We affirm that all people are sensual, sexual and compassionate beings and shouldn’t be labeled as hetero- homo- bi- or asexual.”
(I mean obviously I disagree with the author, but the point is that they listed “hetero, homo, bi, or asexual” as the four options. (Keep in mind that “homosexual” was the “formal” language at the time, it wasn’t considered a slur; this wasn’t technically a lesbian newspaper, but like off our backs, it basically was one in all but name.))
(OH MY GOD SIDEBAR: I just read more of the piece linked about, about how this was the first feminist underground newspaper, and OFC my old boss, Laura X, was involved in it. she has some “women’s herstory archives” she runs now, by which i think i mean a shed in her backyard BUT ANYWAY that’s a whole nother story)
In 1975, a Eugene, Oregon newspaper called Women’s Press showcased a quote by lesbian Florence Rush, from “The Parable of the Mothers and Daughters,” about women’s rights, which said “this right can be for us all - lesbians, celibates, bisexual, asexual, amazon virgins and heterosexual….” (I’m skipping a bunch of examples that are in the same vein, because why bother giving more similar examples when I could skip to examples of other things on the list?)
…and another one in 1975 Pennsylvania, called Hera, published an article about battered women that lumped lesbian and asexual women together in contrast to straight ones: “For the most part, the herstory of heterosexual women can be summed up in three words: used, abused and abandoned. Not that the destructive male spares the lesbian or the asexual woman when he is set to mate the female.” (Bi erasure, but never mind.)
but where are the people identifying themselves as asexual?
Bristol, apparently; the first classified ad on this 1976 page of Move, a UK publication, seeks a pen pal for a “lonely asexual tv/ts.” (today this would likely say “for a lonely asexual trans woman,” but it was nineteen fucking seventy six).
In this 1977 issue of Feminist Communications, out of San Diego, CA, four women are interviewed about their sexual orientation and how they relate to the lesbian-feminist movement. Two are lesbians, one is bi in a “straight” relationship, and one, Pam, identifies as “self-sexual and not open to a relationship right now.”
I’m not ace, but I know enough to know she’s saying she’s on that spectrum. Later in the interview, she clarifies, “I think labels are really oppressive and I really resent being called straight or bisexual, asexual, non-sexual, or having to deal with a label. I think that really inhibits me as far as relating to people. People see me as one sort of sexuality and they relate to me in that way… Such an emphasis put on who you relate to takes all the fun out of relating to anyone for me."
The way she describes her experiences is basically, “I’m asexual but I hate labels, and I don’t know if I’m heteromantic or biromantic or lesbian or what honestly.”
ok I need to take a break, but I’ve only gone through 6 years of this stuff and there are another 40 to go.
TL;DR: where is all the LBGTQ+ community ephemera that mentions aces? i don’t know, did you look through any?
yousharknotpass
turnnoffyourmind
vaporwave
janainaart
snowghoul
germansingergirl
jacobvanloon
