ACE VENTURE: SEX DETECTIVE

Establishing an Anthropological Framework

“The purpose of anthropology is to make the exotic familiar and the familiar exotic.”

       LOUISE & GEORGE SPINDLER

Investigating the asexuality movement from an anthropologically-based perspective requires one to acknowledge the platform (one supported by various anthropologists including Malinowski, the Spindlers, and Eriksen to name a few) that anthropology is not only about differences, but also about similarities. It is from this platform that I will attempt to frame the discussion of asexuality (more specifically asexual visibility and awareness) as a social movement, drawing comparisons from aspects of both feminist and queer movements using literature and discourse from actors within these social movements as well as from anthropological literature about the movements themselves. These movements are linked not solely by their goals to unpack and flesh out cultural understanding within the socially constructed domains of sexuality and gender, but are also linked by the complexities that voicing awareness and seeking visibility entail.

Please note that the focus of this blog is neither to give a documented history nor a general overview of asexuality, but to focus specifically on two aspects of asexuality. The first aspect is the struggle for a voice outside of the asexual community and the obstacles of visibility presented by opponents or external actors of the movement. The second aspect I will investigate is the marginalization of individuals/groups within the community and what effect the concept of “Unassailable Asexual” has on the discourse.

For those of you interested in learning more about asexuality, I recommend checking out AVEN’s website, biologistblackbelt’s YouTube series “the asexuality chronicles”, or swankivy’s youtube channel.

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How is Asexuality a Social Movement?

A social movement is defined by Della & Diani as networks of informal interactions between a plurality of actors (i.e. individuals, groups, and/or organizations) engaged in political or cultural conflicts on the basis of a collective identity. What does this mean? What specifically are the characteristics of a social movement and how does this apply to asexuality awareness/visibility?

1) informal networks of people: The Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN), HotPiecesofAce, SwankIvy, LiveJournal Asexuality Group, and biologistblackbelt are just a few of the actors in an ever growing asexual community

2) based on shared beliefs, identity, and solidarity: not to oversimplify, but essentially the root of the movement is the solidarity of an asexual identity as an orientation with the shared belief that this is a healthy lifestyle with no “repairs” necessary.

3) mobilize over conflictual issues: although conflictual issues may shift over time and space as there is increased awareness which may lead to the resolution of some and the development of others, some conflictual issues leading to mobilzation include the recognition of asexuality’s existence, debates such as whether asexuals are members or allies of the LGBTQ community, terminology, inclusion, and representation particularly in media among others.

4) frequent use of various forms of protest: the actors within the asexuality movement use various forms of protest, a large portion of which are forms of social media such as vlogs, blogs, youtube, vimeo, forums, articles etc. Media attention through appearances on television shows may reach audiences outside the grasp of many forms of social media as a form of protest against the “invisibility” or denial of asexuality. Participation in pride parades, adoption of symbols such as the flag and the black ring, and art can all be used as forms of protest against discrimination and marginalization of the asexual community.

5) the intent to change something that is status quo: the current discourse of sexuality is problematic and exclusive. We are living in a hypersexualized world with heteronormative and sexualnormative assumptions about sexuality and gender. The goal of asexual awareness is to talk about asexuality and its implications for sexuality and sexual orientation discourse.

InfoDump

Just to let you all know, I am a fourth year university undergrad, majoring in linguistics and minoring in anthropology. I am doing this blog as a project for my cultural anthropology class. The project is based around social movements, and (obviously) I have chosen the social movement occurring as those identifying as asexual (and also those in general who realize that sexualnormativity is problematic) speak out to gain a voice and visibility in a hypersexualized world with heteronormative and sexualnormative assumptions about sexuality and gender. Considering the minimal anthropological literature on asexuality and the asexual community, I intend to draw from literature concerning feminist and gay/lesbian activism and scholarship in order to parallel the current struggle to find representation and voice in a society that largely ascribes to a widespread ignorance and denial of its very existence, unless the existence of asexuality is diagnosed as “something to be fixed”. I have some posts under edit and on the way. This is my first blog ever so bear with me.