#ace Angela Chen

[theartofangirling]

I don't even know how to begin to express how incredible and affirming Isaac's storyline was in the new heartstopper season (not surprising, given that Alice Oseman has written multiple ace-centric books), but like. wow

it was especially amazing seeing him pick up Ace by Angela Chen, which was extremely influential to me as well!! not to mention iconic aro ace book Summer Bird Blue by Akemi Dawn Bowman. and Alice Oseman's Loveless is lurking around in the background all season, which is the BEST kind of cameo imo!

[aritany]

okay. this book is NA which means it's going to be inevitably marketed as YA were i to ever pursue publishing for it. do you think this sort of content belongs in YA spaces? do you think there's room for conversations about this with younger audiences, or does this belong in adult fiction?

(content on consent derived from ace by angela chen, a 10/10 read)

[demisexualnathanvuornos]

Isaac Henderson: bi -> ACE (Heartstopper 2x3 Promise/ 2x8 Perfect, 2023)

[doggaro]

all of you should be required to read ace by angela chen regardless of whether you’re acespec or not. it is so insightful about sexuality and romance in our culture and how the lack thereof is demonized/what we can learn from these experiences. so so good. omfg

[questioning-pisces]

met Angela Chen, author of ACE, at an event my local queer bookstore was holding and look at the note she left🥹this combined with the dedication made me cry

[scribbleymark]

"Amatonormativity permeates more than TV shows and books. It is woven into our legal rights, creating forms of discrimination that become more and more apparent as people age. Romantic love within marriage confers privileges that other forms of devotion cannot, including over 1,100 laws that benefit married couples at the federal level. Spouses can share each other’s health insurance, as well as military, social security, and disability benefits. They can make medical decisions for each other. Companies grant bereavement leave for spouses, no questions asked, but there will be more hesitation if leave is requested for a mere friend. It is possible to marry a stranger and give them your health insurance but not possible to give health insurance to a parent...

Criteria based on sex made sense when the main purpose of marriage was to merge fortunes and produce children, but today...marriage is more about a match of devotion than a match of trade. In many cases, the point is no longer to create an heir and a spare. Plenty of married couples don’t have children (or sex, for that matter), and bad marriages with little caring are common...

Offering legal and social benefits only to the romantically attached suggests that the mere presence of romantic feeling elevates the care and deserves special protections, even though friendship and other forms of care, which can come with less obligation, can include more love, more freely given. Therefore, the legal and social privileges of marriage should be extended to all mutually consenting adults who wish for them...

'In terms of policy, marriage law really reaches into all areas of law, like tax and immigration and property,' ... 'It doesn’t matter if it’s different-sex only or same-sex marriage, so long as we restrict marriage to romantic and sexual partners we will ensure amatonormativity.' Reforming marriage law by abolishing it altogether or extending marriage-like rights to friends (to small groups or networks) is one way to eradicate discrimination."

Angela Chen, Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex

[bogkeep]

my aroace 101 presentation script is now available as a PDF for anyone who wants it! i've set it to Pay What You Want with a minimum of 0 dollar since i want it to be an accessible resource, but i did also work pretty hard on it so a little tip isn't unwelcome!

topics i cover:

- definitions of aromantic and asexual identities

- different types of attraction

- variety in ace & aro experiences

- challenges & stigma

- rethinking relationships

- allyship

it's 15 pages and 4.6k words!

[my-rose-tinted-glasses]

“Aces aren't a puzzle with a missing piece. Everyone is their own full puzzle.”

Angela Chen, Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex

[andysapril]

[bibliophilecats]

03 June 2023: LGBTQIA+ Pride

[stromuprisahat]

I spoke of longing and listened intently to stories of sexual adventures, and never did it occur to me that my friends and I might be using the language of desire differently. For them, a word like “hot” could indicate a physical pull of the type Jane had described. For me, “hot” conveyed an admiration of excellent bone structure.

Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex (Angela Chen)

[headcanonsandmore]

Wait, you're telling me that allos can be sexually attracted to people they find ugly?

[ale-arro]

just finished reading Refusing Compulsory Sexuality: A Black Asexual Lens on Our Sex-Obsessed Culture by Sherronda J. Brown and they said something about colonial mindsets orienting people towards viewing labels as property/something that can be "owned" and I was really struck by that bc I feel like it ties into a trend to view labels as prescriptive rather than descriptive which is part of my own reluctance to specifically label my own identity. In viewing labels as something that can be owned they become concrete and thus to a certain extent immutable and that is what allows us to draw boundaries of who is and isn't included in them, and even taking the stance of "anyone who resonates with this label can use it" doesn't undo the exclusion bc drawing boundaries inherently limits who resonates with the term

[aroaceinaerospace]

since it's the start of a new year and I'm a bookworm, I figured I'd share some of the aspec books I read in 2023. I've added any of the big content warnings I can think of as well as a link to the books on storygraph where there are more in depth content warnings.

Fiction:

Wren Martin Ruins It All by Amanda DeWitt follows the titular character Wren Martin during senior year of high school as he becomes student council president and fights his vice president to try and get the school's Valentine's Day dance shut down. Wren is very much an externally grumpy person who becomes much more loveable as you get to know him and see the reasoning behind his grumpiness. Rep includes asexual main character and an aromantic side character, and note this book is a romance.

Is Love The Answer by Uta Isaki is a coming of age manga following Chika as she tries to find the answer to who she is and explores her identity. This book is full of aro and ace rep with different life experiences. CW for aphobia and attempted SA.

Just Lizzie by Karen Wilfred is a middle grade book following Lizzie in how a science class assignment helped lead her to an understanding of her asexuality. At the same time, Lizzie is having to adjust to a new home and changes in what was once familiar and safe. CW for aphobia, harassment.

Non-fiction:

*note: these books cover some triggering topics in different parts of them, including racism, SA, aphobia, and more

Ace and Aro Journeys by The Ace and Aro Advocacy Project (TAAAP) is a really great overview of aspec identities, it gives more time to aro identities than a lot of other books, and provides quotes and information from people on various parts of the spectrums. This book brings in some intersectionality, though it is more broad than a deep dive.

Refusing Compulsory Sexuality by Sherronda J. Brown, which has been my favorite read. This book is fantastic if you're ready for a deep dive into intersectionality and some deeper history on asexuality. This book, despite being very short, is a much heavier read content-wise, but it is very thought provoking and will stick with you. Each chapter gives you content warnings up front for the materials that will be addressed in the chapter. Personally, this book has been my favorite book on the subject and I intend on reading it many more times to capture more of the nuance.

[hushedstars]

"Never did it occur to me that my friends and I might be using the language of desire differently. For them, a word like "hot" could indicate a physical pull of the type Jane had described. For me, "hot" conveyed an admiration of excellent bone structure."

Angela Chen - Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Identity, and the Meaning of Sex

[scribbleymark]

"Many of us learn to desire by watching other people desire. We learn to desire George Clooney because People magazine says he’s the sexiest man alive; we want a beach body because of the constant marketing telling us that summer is only a few months away. In theory, mimetic desire can be perfectly fine. In practice, the world is not a neutral place. We are rarely surrounded by many types of people who represent many visions of life, free to pick the one that fits best. If you don’t know who you are or what you want, the world will decide for you. It will show you a couple of options and tell you those are the only ones...It takes active work to step back, to create even enough space to take a breath and admit that maybe you don’t know what you want, but what has been offered has never felt right."

-Angela Chen, Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex