Asexuality refers to the absence or low experience of sexual desire. Conceived as a minority sexual orientation, this concept emerged in the early 2000s and was championed in particular by AVEN[1]in the United States. How do the issues raised by asexuality fit into LGBTI and feminist struggles? --- This new category arrived in France during the 2010s, initially online. Asexual activists then sought to publicize the definition of asexuality, given the personal relief that this self-identification provided. The assertion that there are people who experience little or no sexual desire and that every relationship to sexuality deserves to be recognized and respected thus aligns with LGBTI discourse. Asexuality is then championed by LGBTI activists who identify as asexual. This integration within LGBTI associations and collectives has led to the creation of monthly support groups and self-help sessions, modeled on existing trans community spaces. Asexual and aromantic marches[2]are organized at Pride events (such as in Paris and Lyon) with the aim of linking asexuality with critiques of patriarchy and psychiatry, which construct heterosexuality as healthy and obligatory.
A fresh perspective on sexuality
This surge in activism, as well as the fact that a large majority of people who identify as asexual are not men[3], can be analyzed by the fact that asexuality provides a space where counter-discourses on obligatory sexuality emerge. However, women often have a much more altruistic relationship to sexuality than men[4], focused on nurturing the relationship, which makes them particularly vulnerable to guilt or to forcing themselves when they do not desire enough.
This gendered dimension is also found in medical constructions of non-desire. Sexology naturalizes differentiated relationships to sexuality between men and women by asserting that the female body is inherently less desirous[5]. Consequently, it becomes pathological when this jeopardizes the possibility of a harmonious heterosexual relationship.
Conversely, male sexual dysfunctions are not perceived as a fundamental threat to the heterosexual couple, on the understanding that the woman would not invest in the relationship solely for sexual purposes. In the past, asexuals have challenged the validity of desire disorders by using asexual self-identification as a contraindication to the diagnosis of hypoactive sexual desire disorder, but without conceptualizing their struggle as feminist. However, viewing these medical constructs as oppressive towards asexuals on the one hand, and as processes stemming from male domination on the other, would allow us to break down the barriers between asexual struggles and imagine strategic alliances, beyond an identity-based paradigm of asexuality.
Louison (Kreiz Breizh Supporter)
Submit
[1]Asexuality and Visibility Education Network is an online community.
[2]Aromanticism refers to the fact of rarely or never falling in love.
[3]16% of asexuals are men, according to the 2022 Ace Survey, a community survey linked to AVEN.
[4]See Michel Bozon, Sociology of Sexuality, Armand Colin, 2025.
[5]See Desjardins' sex-corporeal model, or Basson's idea of spontaneous or reactive desire.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Asexualite-et-aromantisme-Pour-un-militantisme-asexuel-LGBTI-et-feministe
_________________________________________
Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten