#asexualitystudies

While the abstract of this article doesn't mention asexuality, it is mentioned in the keywords. Unfortunately, my university doesn't have access to this journal, so I can't check it out to see what it actually has.

Writing a paper on asexuality for class and not sure where to start? Want to do original research? Can't find that article you heard about?Here's some frequently asked questions that we've seen and some suggestions we have in response:

Q. I need to find academic works about asexuality but I can't find any! 

A: Check out asexual explorations!* The asexual explorations site has a very good bibliography of most of the relevent work that's been done on asexuality, so it should be the first place you look. (*A/N: Asexual Explorations is no longer maintained but you can see an archived version of the bibliography at the link above. It is also now several years out of date, but still provides a good list of early works)

Also, for finding academic articles in general, google scholar is a useful tool to look specifically for academic works only.

Or if you have a specific subtopic you're interested in, feel free to message us and we can recommend anything we know of on the subject.

Q: My teacher specifically wants us to use books about asexuality, not just articles. Do you know of any?

Unfortunately there aren't many books (as opposed to journal articles) that deal specifically with asexuality yet, but here are the ones we know of:

”Understanding Asexuality" by Anthony Bogaert (2012) - the first published academic book about asexuality. It also includes a pretty good survey of much of the work that had been done on asexuality at the time the book was published. There is a good chance that this may be in your library, and if not you can probably request it.

“Asexualities: Feminist and Queer Perspectives”, edited by Megan Milks and Karli June Cerankowski (2014) - a collection of essays by several authors that relate to asexuality, mostly from queer studies and feminist studies. (As opposed to Bogaert’s book, which is more from a psychological and a bit of a sociological perspective). This book is on the expensive side, so I suggest looking for it or ordering it from a local library if possible.

"The Invisible Orientation: An Introduction to Asexuality", by Julie Sondra Decker (2014) - this is not academic press book, so check with your professor if you want to use it for class (it won't be a problem for high school papers, but some college professors prefer that you only use academic press books). Unlike the above books, Invisible Orientation discusses asexuality discusses asexuality from the perspective of actual asexual community members, rather than taking an academic approach.

In addition to the above books which have asexuality as the primary topic, there are also the following books, which contain at least one chapter about asexuality:

”The Sexually Oppressed”, edited by Harvey L. & Jean S. Gochros (1977). - although most of the books is about general sexuality and not asexuality, there is one chapter - “Asexual and Autoerotic Women” by Myra T. Johnson - which is almost prophetic in it’s description of asexuality (though they use “asexual” to refer to what we might call nonlibidoist asexuals and “autoerotic” to refer to what we might call libidoist asexuals), esp. considering it was published almost 25 years before asexual communities started coming together. This book is out of print, but libraries at larger universities will likely have a copy.

"Social Justice, Equality and Empowerment: Sexual Minority Research in the New Millennium" (2012) - this book includes two chapters about asexuality: "How Do You Know You Don’t Like It If You Haven’t Tried It? Asexual Agency and the Sexual Assumption" by Mark A. Carrigan, and "Asexuality: An Emergent Sexual Orientation" by Stephanie B. Gazzola & Melanie A. Morrison.

Q: There aren't enough academic articles on the topic I'm interested in - what else can I use if I need more sources?

A: Depending on the topic of your paper, you have several options you may also be able to use as primary sources:

The front pages and FAQs of places like AVEN and AAW can be cited when discussing community definitions of asexuality and asexual terminology.

Newspaper articles or radio or television interviews about asexuality may also be useful: the AVEN wiki has a very good collection of media coverage.

Asexual blogs and posts on places like AVEN forums or tumblr can be used as primary sources for things like historical or sociological discussions of asexual communities.

There's also the AVEN Census, which was a community driven research project that collected a lot of data on the asexual community. (Please remember, though, that this was community research, not formal academic research, when you decide how to write it up). 

Q: I found an article I want to use but it's behind a paywall - what do I do?

A: First, talk to your librarian! If you're at a college or university, your school may have a subscription to the journal that will allow you to get a copy for free; and if they don't already have them they may be able to order things in for you.

Even if you're not affiliated with a university, though, don't despair! Public libraries sometimes have access to academic databases like JSTOR or ProQuest that may give you access to certain articles; and librarians will always be able to give you good advice on how to find things.

And if none of your libraries have access, you can also often contact the author of a paper (using an email listed on their university pages, for examples) to ask if they can give you a pre-print copy.

Or, if you have a friend or you know someone who has a friend at a university you can always ask around to see if they have access. (feel free to message us here as well!)

Q: I'm not working on any specific project but I'm interested in following current research on asexuality. What should I do?

A: First, check out this post! It has a list of several resources around asexuality and academia that may be useful.

In addition, you can also set up google alerts to send you emails whenever a new paper is added that mentions certain keywords (for example, asexuality). You'll want to tailor your keywords carefully though to avoid getting dozens of emails about things like asexual subspecies of orchids and asexual reproduction in amoebas and other unrelated mentions of "asexuality"

And of course, there's also this blog!

Q: I want to do original research on asexuality. Any advice?

A: First, see again the intro to studying asexuality post! 

Second, you should definitely check out AVEN's research guidelines - in additional to several links to resources that we recommend burgeoning researchers read, it also outlines AVEN policy for researchers who would like to use data or recruit participants from AVEN (which you'll likely want to do, if you're doing participant based research, as AVEN is the largest contact point for the asexual community outside of perhaps tumblr). The open letter to researchers especially is a good starting point.

Asexualities: Feminist and Queer Perspectives (Routledge Research in Gender and Society) [Karli June Cerankowski, Megan Milks] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers.

What is so radical about not having sex? To answer this question, this collection of essays explores the feminist and queer politics of asexuality. Asexuality is predominantly understood as an orientation describing people who do not experience sexual attraction. In this multidisciplinary volume...

In other news, there's a new book on asexuality coming out soon! The link above is to the pre-order. The "radical" bit makes me wonder how the quality will be, but I'll probably be getting a copy regardless.