rubs temples. apparently there's a new design for the a/c/e/f/l/a/g that has become a big all or nothing deal that's leading to nasty racist & sexist backlash against the creator, a Black woman. girl I'm tired can there not be any bozos for one pride month i beg
TO BE CLEAR: i love that the new design is striking a chord with a lot of ppl. that's awesome. there's such a huge spectrum of asexuality that i wish was discussed more and that seems to be a large part of what this creator wants to highlight. plus, the intersectionality between race, gender, and asexuality is also something I feel needs to be discussed more, especially after reading ace lit like refusing compulsory sexuality, ace, ace voices, the invisible orientation, etc. (i make a point of reading any ace nonfic i come across and i beg other ppl to at least freaking glance at these books)
the original ace flag was just kinda pitched on an online forum like twenty years ago... how is that different from this scenario? it's not like there was a huge vote. it's not like it's the official flag of a country. it's just a symbol someone made up.
using a stripe to represent 'love' did make me raise an eyebrow at first, as i have a lot of feelings about making aro / loveless aces feel safe in the community. but actually reading what is meant to stand for - love including all forms, friendship, self love, etc - made it make more sense. i'm still wary about explicitly using the word 'love' because it's a really loaded word for a lot of the community, myself included. at the same time, i wholeheartedly believe that my understanding of my asexuality was really only fully realized when i rooted it in a place of self love. so i don't have a clear opinion on this particular talking point, but i've seen this aspect of the new design in particular receive a lot of strong feelings, both positive and negative...
i don't think i'll be using the new design for myself personally. some reasoning is practical: i have a few badges/flags already and don't want to trash them to get something new. some reasoning is my aesthetic opinion: i prefer the simplicity of four colors vs five/six, and i dislike how the new color palette looks. mostly my reasoning is sentimental: i've had a ~13 year journey of figuring out what being asexual means to me, how it affects me and the way i see the world, the ways it enriches my life even if the vast majority of people i meet may never know or care about it. the four-stripe flag has been a really big part of that personal journey and i don't want to let it go. of course, that decision is personal. i think everyone should use whatever design they want because again, it's not official. it's a symbol of pride. make a new asexual flag every day if you want. there are no rules to break here and it's ridiculous to act like there are.
as always, i wish there was more conversation around ace issues and experiences, but this is definitely Not It.
