~ Rep(r)ose ~

I’ve been getting a lot of asks lately regarding the asexual experience, and how to portray it in fiction.  However, my ability to advise is limited, as I am not asexual in the least.  Therefor, I will provide a long overdue master list of resources, from asexual people, and how they live, love, and experience the world!

Also note:  if you are an asexual follower, shoot me a message with your experiences, and I will include them in this post.

The basics:

“Am I Asexual? 10 Things You Don’t (But Should) Know About Asexuality”

Video:  “What’s It Like Being Asexual In Your Twenties?” 

“5 Asexual People Explain What ‘Asexual’ Means to Them”

“This is what being asexual is actually like”

Video:  “7 Things Asexual People Want You to Know”

Video:  “Ask An Asexual Person”

Romance:

“17 Super-Honest Stories About Dating As An Asexual Person”

“Why Dating For Asexual People Is Unnecessarily Difficult”

“How I Seek Out Intimacy As A Sexual Person”

“Asexual People Tell Us What Their Romantic Lives Are Like”

“I’m Asexual, And My Husband And I Are Totally Okay With It”

Sex:

“Asexual People Can Have Sex Lives – Here’s What They’re Like”

“I’m Asexual and Here’s What Sex Feels Like For Me” (Trigger warning:  rape mention)

“Hi, I’m a Sex-Repulsed Asexual.  No, Not All Ace People are Sex-Repulsed.”

“Having My Cake and Eating It:  What It’s Like to be an Asexual Sex Worker”

“I am asexual.  I want sex.  They’re not mutually exclusive in the least.”

Bonus!  Aromantic Resources:

(Video) “What Does Being Aromantic Feel Like & How Did I Know?”

(Video) “Aromantic Q&A:  My Relationship History”

“What It Means To Be Aromantic, According To Aromantic People”

(Video) “My Experience As An Aro”

All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.

So (according to the concept art book) as the Fellowship travels deeper into Middle Earth, the places they pass through become inspired by progressively older periods of history. The farther along you are in the story, the more ancient the design influences

We begin in The Shire: which feels so familiar because, with its tea-kettles and cozy fireplaces, it’s inspired by the relatively recent era of rural England in the 1800s

But when we leave Hobbiton, we also leave that familiar 1800s-England aesthetic behind and start going farther back in time. 

Bree is based on late 1600s English architecture

Rohan is even farther back, based on old  anglo-saxon era architecture (400s-700s? ce)

Gondor is way back, and no longer the familiar English or Anglo-Saxon: its design comes from classical Greek and Roman architecture

And far far FAR back is Mordor. It’s a land of tents and huts: prehistoric, primitive, primeval. Cavemen times

And the heart of Mordor is a barren lifeless hellscape of volcanic rock…like a relic from the ages when the world was still being formed,  and life didn’t yet exist

And then they finally reach Mount Doom, which one artist described as 

“where the ring was made, which represents, in a sense, the moment of creation itself”

Milky Way at South Dandalup Dam, Western Australia

Deer God <3