#ace representation

Ace characters (and hcs) are often non human or have an arc that turns em non human. Nothing wrong with that rep since asexuals can relate to the feeling of being “unfit” or broken and therefore othered, but after a while it does develop a stereotype and arguably, it amplifies the assumptions that we are indeed not normal in a human society.

I might not be in the zeitgeist for aroace rep but it took a while until we had another aroace coded character (intentional or otherwise). He is smart but not cold. He’s not in an arc that’s learning to be less alone, he just is. He is a pathetic sobbing mess but also very competent. He builds connections with people fine and they don’t have to be romantic. Not only that, Ryland Grace being aroace subverted the nonhuman trope in which Rocky is the one who isn’t (you can’t really classify Rocky into human gender and sexual orientation too).

Rant positively inspired by this reblog: ⬇️

Truthfully, I’m so fcking tired of all the ship discourse surrounding Alastor’s asexuality.

The lack of tolerance in this fandom is unbelievable. It’s disappointing. It’s hypocritical.

More importantly, many of the people trying to “police” Alastor’s character in fanmade-works don’t seem to realize they’re invalidating ace experiences like my own.

Asexuality is a spectrum—something that’s been carefully explained in countless posts since the pilot episode aired. Yet, every day, people in the Hazbin fandom continue to make truly ignorant, and (sometimes cruel) assumptions about a life they’ve never lived.

I’m in my 30s. I’ve never been kissed… I still have my friggin V-card.

That said, I’m tired of everyone assuming that just because I don’t crave sex, I’m incapable of a romantic or even a sexual relationship. Sure, I don’t seek sex out. I rarely even think about it. But just because I’m not inherently drawn to it doesn’t mean I’m repulsed by it—or afraid of it. It just means it’s not something I naturally want.

With the right person though? I might be open to it, just as I’d be open to watching their favorite show or going to their favorite restaurant.

Yes, there are asexual people who are sex-repulsed—and their feelings and experiences absolutely matter. But they are not the only ones who exist. They are not the only ones who deserve representation.

(More damning?These people are not the ones acting vile online)

And here’s the biggest point: Alastor is an imaginary character.

He doesn’t need your help. He doesn’t need your protection.

But the person on the other side of the screen? Real.

The artist whose page you left a hate comment on? Real.

The author who poured pieces of their own experiences into a fanfic? Real.

Real. Real. Real.

You want to help? You want to protect? You want to validate asexual voices?

Then stop preaching—and listen to us. All of us. Even the “weird” ones who don’t fit neatly into your worldview.

If that’s too much for you? Then at least remember, at the end of the day, you control the content you consume.

If you don’t like a ship, block the tag.

If you don’t want romance or smut, use tags like “Queerplatonic Relationship” or “Sex-Repulsed Alastor.”

Please—just let the rest of us enjoy our fandom in peace.

And if you can’t stand to have your worldview stretched beyond your prejudices of how a proper ace should be? Or you refuse to be tolerant and learn how to respectfully coexist with people you disagree with?

Then maybe you are not ready to watch a series meant for “mature audiences”.

(doodles + alt vers w/o text below cut!)

Because what I want makes me look like a prude, pearl-clutching conservative who can’t handle explicit sex and wants everyone back in the closet.

No.

What I want is queer romances that can stand on their own legs without smut being all they have to offer, and I’m not picking on any one story in particular. I make the same complaint about straight romances that are less “believable, multifaceted relationship” and more “Boy thinks Girl hot they fuck they’re in love”

But adored because there’s two dicks involved when it would otherwise be ignored if it was a straight couple.

You’re caught between “this is a country whose relationship with sex and the shame surrounding it is a systemic problem and having media unafraid to get messy with it is a good thing” and “ok but an epic romance that balances on the pinhead of only what they do in bed is unrealistic and unhealthy and ignores what keeps people together beyond just sex”.

If I speak up and say “yeah can’t they just be friends or at least have a mutual respect for each other first?” I’m accused of being homophobic.

There’s a bookstore near me that only sells romance novels, and the romantasy genre sustains its ability to pay rent. I submitted my book as a local author for the shelves and before I got redirected to the lengthy form that went nowhere, I was talking to one of the sales reps—I don’t know if she was a lesbian but she sure acted like a straight woman just horny for gay smut—and I got this… attitude.

And this question: “How spicy is your novel?” Both from her and on the form.

It’s not. I’m ace. It’s written through an ace lens. There’s two sex scenes and if it were on AO3 it would be rated T. Yes, it’s adult romance.

And I got that fake-ass customer service smile, and promptly redirected to the purgatory form with zero further questions about my novel and its world, plot, or characters, the likes of which I have a long list from independent bookstores that I shall someday blacklist when I become a bestseller for the simple disrespect of not telling me they’re not interested even in an auto-reply.

I don’t have a problem with smut, I really don’t. I’ll pick up a compelling fanfic whenever I’m bored. I just also need some compelling characterization to go along with it, particularly in an original work of fiction that can’t just rely on pre-established canon.

I don’t have a problem with horny romantasy as a subgenre, but I’m writing these books because I’m hungry for rep that exists beyond what they do in bed, and I don’t yet feel like we can coexist without people like that bookstore clerk turning her nose up at me for not writing her wank material.

Adult rep, in adult fiction, because if I’m writing YA, the lack of smut is a given. I don’t have to justify a T rating.

But I also just… hate being a female-passing (jury is pending here), white author, lumped in with my contemporaries who see gay men as playthings and gay sex as just a titillating caricature of a person and not one aspect of an entire sexuality.

I absolutely understand the frustration and wariness that comes from “another middle-class white woman has written a gay romance” because there’s not been a great track record.

I mean I’m not straight or cis, but I sure don’t look that way and while I don’t have a problem saying that on this hellsite, I shouldn’t have to say it in public to justify my credentials to write queer romances.

I wrote the books I wanted to read, and the crux of the central romance that crashes and burns spectacularly is the unstoppable force of a desperate allosexual who thinks he’s “the right person” colliding with the immovable object of an ace who just doesn’t see him that way and tried his damndest to make it work with all he had to offer short of his bed, and it’s not enough.