Here is a master list of arguments in the ace discourse over the years against the notion that cishet ace/aro people are members of the LGBT community, because they are cis and straight. Furthermore why calling asexuality an oppression (while not denying the existence of prejudice against asexual people and the need for their own community) leads to very homophobic and transphobic understanding of what it means to be LGBT. I have been involved inΒ βthe discourseβ for over five years, making arguments of my own and promoting others on this blog. But now it is time for me to move on and leave this masterpost as the culmination of this blogβs purpose.
Some of these posts are mine but for the most part this is the product of a lot of other peopleβs work: their words, their thoughts, their experiences and their research all compiled into one place to help people understand the ace discourse and to track its record of ahistory and blatant homophobia and transphobia. I have made sure to use links on my blog so they donβt get lost in any name changes or deletion, but I do not take any credit for their posts and content.Β So thank you to everyone who contributed to the discourse, and ultimately this post. I hope this will be great resource for discoursers young and old and help people form their own arguments and to help young LGBT people from falling into the trap of denying their sexuality because of the homophobic and transphobic rhetoric of the Ace Community.Β
So without further ado, The Ace Discourse Masterpost:
Why Asexuality is Not Oppressed
A comparison of asexuality to racism and why it does not meet the definition of systemic oppression
A Debunking of the study often cited as proof of Asexual Oppression and AcephobiaΒ
Another response to the oft cited study.
And denying oppression is not proof it exists
Oppression is systematic, not individual
Asexuality does not need to be oppressed to still be valid
The LGBT community was created to combat transphobia and homophobia
Gatekeeping doesnβt mean what you think it does
βThe LGBT Community is meant to be inclusive!!β
Safe Spaces are meant to be exclusive
And thus excluding cishet aces protects LGBT people
If not LGBT, where do asexual people belong?
On the assumption that some LGBT people live happy homophobia free lives and should be calledΒ βnot queer enoughβ too.
The emergence of REG,Β β Reactionary Exclusionist Gatekeepersβ
REG is just another version of usingΒ βitβs the same as ___β to gain legitimacy
The history ofΒ βqueerβ as a slur and why its not an umbrella term
InsistingΒ βqueerβ is an umbrella term for abnormal/deviant people is classic homophobia
Queer is also often used to intentionally erase an individuals distinct identity and relation to oppression
Queer can never fully be reclaimed
On queer theory and the true history of the term
How AVEN started the A for Asexual, fully aware that it was also being used for allies.Β Β (Arguing the origin of A as Ally is pointless now, this post explains it all from the horseβs mouth)
Why trying to use MOGAI instead does not work.
A thorough argument on why hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) in the DSM is not proof of oppression against asexuals, and is in fact a homophobic and ableist claim.Β
More on HSDD and the absurdity of claiming it targets asexual people
More on the history of the slur homosexuality and how it was used to medically torture gay people.
Autistic people are often assumed to be asexual (And are not meant to be ace representation)
A Complete Guide to How the Ace Community has lied about the Pathologization of Asexuality and Fearmongered Young Aces into thinking Anti-Ace Conversion Therapy is a Thing
Split Attraction Model (Asexuality is not Straight!)
Why the split attraction model is bad and people hate it.
It makes gross assumptions about non-asexual people who do not use the model, and conflates sexual attraction with sexual orientation
Sectioning personal thoughts on sex and using mogai labels are ultimately useless
The -sexual prefix has always meant gender not sex
Attraction cannot be so evenly split into Romantic or Sexual
βYou must be cisgender, heteroromantic, and heterosexual to be Straight!β
Also βHomoromanticβ is a terrible word
The History of the word Straight
Allosexual & Allosexual Privilege
Why Allosexual is a terrible term
The word makes sweeping assumptions about someoneβs private sexual feelings for vast number of people.Β (tl;dr version)
The person who coined the term now opposes itβs use.
There is no such thing as sexual privilege.Β
SGA people have a relationship to sex based on our oppression that straight asexual people cannot understand or experience
The failure of liberal analysis of power structuresΒ
Refuting the idea that LGBT people donβt face homophobia or transphobia even in more liberal places.
A cringe-worthy comic that assumes βallosexualβ people easily know their sexual orientation because sexΒ
Can you all just stop with this shit, really?
Monosexism, allosexualityβs evil cousin, has many of the same issues.
TL;DRΒ Another brief argument against Allosexual
The term βcorrective rapeβ has been appropriated from a very specific homophobic hate crime in South Africa to mean any kind of rape that punishes the victim.
The UN updated itβs terminology guidelines to refer to it as homophobic rape to βnote the deep-seated homophobia that motivates the hate crimeβ
Often used as a gotcha argument than concern for rape victims.
Supporting Rape Culture and Pedophilia
Discourse about ace people having sex is often thinly veiled rape culture
Claiming rape is worse for asexual peopleΒ again, and again, and again, and again, and again
Is the discourse becoming too βinclusiveβ of pedophiles?
The troubling trend of protecting pedophiles and calling out victims
How capitalism affects our perceptions of sexual culture
Asexuality is about sex in a way being Gay/Bi is not (And how it relates to explaining sex and sexuality to children)
Aces need to talk about sex too!
Visibility directly contributes to the violence LGBT people face
Visibility is not always positive and is often stereotyped and not good for LGBT people
Accepted versus Respected
βAt least you have representation!β
Arguments that the Spinster Movement was about asexuality cherry picks historyΒ
Another post about the Spinster Movement
Assuming Boston Marriages were about asexuality
Asexuality is based on western/eurocentric ideas of sexuality
New terminology lacks historical context ofΒ βhomosexualβΒ
And is often appropriating language from LGBT people
Even recent history gets rewrittenΒ
The Ace Community really needs to just stop.
Pushing LGBT People Back into the Closet
Homophobia wants gay people to be asexual
Ace discourse has promoted sexually regressive and classic homophobic ideas about sex that has prevented LGB people from fully admitting to themselves their same-gender attraction.Β (Proof)
Ace discourse against same-gender PDA in LGBT safe spaces is classic homophobia
As well as dangerous to our sexual safety!
PDA is not applied to straight and gay people equallyΒ
AIDS/HIV and Serophobia in the Ace Community
βWeβre Here, Weβre QueerβΒ - was created in response to the AIDS CrisisΒ Β (Source)
Joking about the crisis to complain about gatekeeping
Resenting AIDS activism so much as to imply no young gay man today could possibly be affected by the AIDS crisis
Assuming no one alive during the crisis is speaking now about seraphobiaΒ (The AIDS Crisis is Not Over!)
Imagining sexually transmitted plagues that wonβt affect asexuals
βOk but that was like 40 years ago and homosexuality is now widely acceptedβ
Homophobia in the Ace CommunityΒ
Will comment on topics of violent homophobia withΒ βat least they know you existβ so they can kill us
Ace tumblr or conservative republican?
Claiming people who hate aces are βSexually Deviantβ
Masterpost of some really terrible homophobic shit
βGay people are obsessed with sex!β Edition of Ace Homophobia
This entire tag of fucked up shit ace people have said
Please feel free to reblog and add any arguments I may have missed.Β
Click here for a more rebloggable version with a readmore cut.