Thread by @aceweek

It's time we stop talking about what "asexuality isn't".

Asexuality IS. Asexuality contains multitudes. Asexuality contains contradictions. Asexuality is not having sex. Asexuality is having sex and hating it. Asexuality is having sex and loving it. Asexuality is sex work. 🧵1/7

Asexuality is not experiencing sexual attraction. Asexuality is experiencing sexual attraction and hating it. Asexuality is being completely overwhelmed with another person's beauty, but not wanting to get in their pants. 2/7

Asexuality is having a low to nonexistent sex drive. Asexuality is having a high sex drive, and enjoying expressing that, whether alone or with others. Asexuality is having a high sex drive and wishing it could go away right now, thank you very much. 3/7

Asexuality is caused by sexual trauma, neurodivergence, disabilities, medications, and more. Asexuality is an inborn trait with no discernible cause. Asexuality is not knowing what caused you to be like this. 4/7

Asexuality is every experience of every ace person. There is nothing that asexuality isn't. Asexuality is everything. 5/7

When you read one person's story, you are getting one tiny sliver of what asexuality is. No single person can embody all of asexuality's complexities and contradictions, and we need to stop expecting them to. 6/7

We need to stop censoring other aces simply because their asexuality is different from our own, especially when they're bringing important, underrepresented experiences to the table. 7/7

Asexuality is unconditional permission to not have sex, not find people hot, not find sex life-changing if you do have it. Asexuality is unconditional permission to say "no." (And it's this permission that makes saying "yes" meaningful for those who choose to do so.) 8/7

It's these things that unite us in the presence of our incredible diversity, and it's these things that our activism needs to focus on. 9/7