That’s right! In addition to the French and German articles, we currently have 9 Turkish media articles that we’d love to get English translations for. If you can help, or know someone who can, then please go to the Contributions Forum and take a look at the topics marked “Turkish -> English Translation Needed”. We’d really appreciate that!
We’re currently trying to build subsections in the Knowledge Base for all non-English-language media articles and community websites, so if you know of anything that we should include, please do let us know.
Would you be willing to help us translate and / or transcribe some items into English?
In the course of searching for information on asexuality for our Knowledge Base we have started to come across articles, videos and radio broadcasts from the German and French media. We’d love to include these in the Knowledge Base as they are but, as most of our users are English-speaking, we also want to provide an English translation or transcription wherever possible.
Also, if you know of any other articles, videos, radio segments, papers, newsletters, websites, blog posts, or anything else that deals with asexuality that is not currently available in English then do please let us know via our Contributions Forum or the Contact Form.
I recently discovered the following footage of a really nicely made documentary on asexuality on an external hard drive but it seems that, when I digitized it, I only kept the relevant segment of the program. There were no titles or credits and no network logos to give me any clues about who made the documentary or when it was broadcast. I did, however, recognize the people who were being interviewed as Cijay, Kamikola and David Jay, all of AVEN.
Having spent some time searching AVEN, it seems that this might be a portion of the show “Sexual Secrets” which went out of the Life Network in Canada on January 30, 2005. However, I don’t know if this was a re-run, and I’m also not sure if we have the full segment here or just a part of it.
As far as I know, this is the only copy of this footage available online.
If anyone can fill in or confirm the details about this video then please let us know in this thread in our Forums or via our Contact Form. We especially need to know whether anyone has a full copy of the program that we might be able to host in our Knowledge Base.
Apologies to anyone who tried to watch the Sex Files video I posted yesterday - we experienced something of a technical hitch. All I can say is that there are clearly way too many video formats and codecs and that someone really ought to put their foot down and establish some kind of standard that works the same way with all software. Hmph!
Now, having excused myself from any trace of blame for the balls-up, here’s the full-length documentary that you were all expecting to see. For the first time on the known internet (apart from the fact that it is uploaded to YouTube) here’s The Sex Files: No Sex Please in its entirety. Enjoy!
We’ve also found a copy of the 8-minute trailer for the pending documentary, Asexuality: The Making of a Movement which you can watch here.
We’re pretty sure that there are other videos of asexual TV appearances out there that we should be including (for example, David Jay’s appearance on Richard & Judy in the UK in 2004), so if you have a copy of one of these or know where we can find one then please let us know in our forums or via our contact form.
In the meantime, do check out what we already have if you haven’t already watched them.
UPDATE: We now have a copy of the first ever aired documentary on asexuality, The Sex-Files: No Sex Please, which was aired on the Canadian Discovery Channel in early 2004.
UPDATE 2: Sorry folks, looks like we messed up the digitizing process. The Sex Files video posted appears to only be the first part of the documentary. We’ll get that fixed and repost it ASAP!
Having recently spent a lot of time poking around on the internet looking for Queer organizations that recognize or support asexuality (you know, for our Knowledge Base) I’ve become just one more of many people to notice just how ridiculous some groups’ acronyms have become. Sure, there are LGBs and LGBTs, and most people are familiar with those, but there are also LGBTQs, LGBTAs, LGBTUs, LGBTIs, LGBTTs, LGBTQAs and even LGBTTTIQQAs.
And that’s just a quick sample of the acronyms in use. Not only is this rather overwhelming, but it’s pretty obvious that none of these can be pronounced without enunciating every single letter in turn. The most ridiculous one was allegedly coined by a representative of Wesleyan University, and goes something like ‘LGBTTQQFAGIPBDSM…’ which stands for ‘Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Transsexual, Queer, Questioning, Flexual, Asexual, Genderqueer, Intersex, Polyamourous, BDSM and anything else we might have forgotten’. Great, but what are the chances of anyone actually remembering that?
The only suggestion I came across that actually comes close to rolling of the tongue was coined by the magazine Anything That Moves, and that’s ‘FABGLITTER’ (Fetish, Allies, Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Intersexed, Transgender, Transsexual Engendering Revolution). Unfortunately, even this doesn’t include every possible sexual or gender-identity minority out there.
One has to ask the question: Isn’t there a better way of being inclusive than stringing letters together to form cumbersome abbreviations? What’s wrong with naming your organization the ‘Queer Alliance’ or ‘Rainbow Alliance’, or something equally pronounceable like that?
Since the mid-1980s students at high schools and universities have organized LGBT groups, often called Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) at their respective schools. The groups form to provide support for LGBT students and to promote awareness of LGBT issues in the local community.
But even within these groups, there have always been tensions regarding inclusivity. From Wikipedia’s LGBT page:
after the initial euphoria of the beginnings of the Stonewall riots wore off, starting in the late 1970s and early 1980s, there was a change in perception and some gays and lesbians were not very accepting of bisexual or transgender people.
It was thought that transsexual people were acting out stereotypes; and bisexuals were simply gay men or lesbian women who were simply afraid to “come out” and be honest about their identity. Like many organizations, the movement underwent growing pains, and these are seen even today in the fact that there is no agreement as to whether the acronym should be GLBT or LGBT.
Not until the 1990s did it become common to speak of “gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people” with equal respect within the movement. Although the LGBT community has seen some controversy regarding universal acceptance of different members (transgender individuals, in particular, have sometimes been marginalized by the larger LGBT community), the term LGBT has been a positive symbol of inclusion.
These days, people are coming out or labeling themselves with all sorts of different things though. Apart from us Asexuals, there are the those who are Transsexual, Intersex, Pansexual, Omnisexual, Genderqueer, Two Spirit, Unsure, Curious, Fetish, and numerous others that don’t come to mind right now. As the existing LGBT groups decide to accept more and more of these groups into their organizations it seems only logical at first to just tag on another letter or two. Until, that is, you get to the point where you have to widen your doors to fit all the letters on the plaque.
‘So, what does this have to do with asexuality?’, you may ask. Well, I’ll tell you. Like most other sexual and gender-identity minorities, we collectively tend to expect Queer organizations to welcome us into their groups with open arms. I’m one of the collective and I’d love to see evidence of at least the recognition of asexuality on more of these organizations’ websites. It has to be said that some of them do more than this, offering information on asexuality, links to our community sites and allowing asexuals to join their meetings. But I can totally understand why the ones who don’t do any of this may have a problem with being an umbrella for everyone who doesn’t quite fit in with the norm. And I definitely understand now why they are loathe to add yet another A onto their already cumbersome acronyms for us. But as I see it, there are two alternative paths we can take:
We drop all the acronyms, revise our missions statements, and group everything under an all-inclusive name like Gender & Sexuality Variation Alliance (or the more traditional Queer or Rainbow Alliance) that won’t have to be changed every few years.
We fragment into dozens of different types of organizations, each with just one sexual or gender-identity minority in its remit. We have a Gay Society, a Bi Society and an Asexual Society and never mix.
Obviously, the second one is impractical, as there are generally very few members of any one minority in any particular area (try setting up an Asexual Society in your town and see how popular it is…). And let’s not forget that there is strength in numbers - that’s the very reason why LGB organizations were created in the first place, right? So shouldn’t we – meaning everyone, including the open-minded heterosexuals - stop focusing on what makes us different from each other and start working together to educate society about the very real and natural variations in gender and sexuality that occur? Sorry if I’m starting to sound like a John Lennon song, but doesn’t that make some sense?
What do you think?If you have strong opinions on this issue one way or the other then please express them in this thread.
However, the task is far from complete. We aim to build the most comprehensive collection of information relating to asexuality on the web, and to do that we need your help. If you know of an article, a research paper, an organization or a website that we don’t already have in the Knowledge Base then let us know, either by leaving a message via our Contact form, or by Registering on our Forums and posting your find in the Contributions Forum.
In particular, we are in desperate need of scanned copies of articles on asexuality that have appeared in the worlwide press over the last 5 years or so. Whilst we already have links to the online text-only versions of some of these articles we would also love to be able to host scanned copies of the printed versions as downloadable PDFs so that visitors can view them in all their illustrated, technicolor splendor. If you have copies of articles and access to a scanner then please contact us (again, via the contact form or the forums) and we’ll gladly host them. Don’t worry if you cannot create PDFs - as long as you can scan the article at a decent resolution (150 - 300dpi) then we can do the conversion for you at our end.
Something else we definitely need more information on is organizations that recognize and support asexuality, particularly details of any LGBT / Queer organizations you are involved with or know of that include asexuality in their remit. So, if you currently attend a college or university that has an LGBT Society, please find out what their stance is on the asexual issue and let us know.
Finally, we are always on the look out for scientific and academic research papers that deal with issues relating to sexual orientation, attraction, sexual drive and desire, and pretty much any other topic that might stimulate discussion of asexuality in a broader context. Again, if you know of anything we should have then let us know through the contact form or forums.
If you haven’t even checked out our Knowledge Base yet then shame on you! I strongly suggest you do so now, and then go find us something else to add to it. If you don’t make a contribution then we’ll send Lord Kitchener after you!
written by Apositive.org member Omnes et Nihil
The real question is why people are looking for a “cause” of sexual orientation, or specific sexual orientations, to begin with. Proof or no proof is completely beside the point. If we’re going to talk about scientific evidence, we should consider all the interpretations of the data, not just some that appear convienent. But I don’t for a moment think that it is helpful–or even makes sense–to talk about scientific evidence surrounding the “causes” of sexual orientation. In fact, I think that argument is inherently problematic.
Arguing that sexual orientation (of any kind) is genetic / learned / socialised / set in the womb / ordained by some higher power / otherwise caused… basically all boils down to accepting the premise: if people can be made heterosexual, they should be made heterosexual, and if people can’t be made heterosexual, then society should accept everyone as they are.
It’s a brilliant tactic to avoid challenging heteronormativity, because no matter what cause of sexual orientation people believe, and no matter what legal and social rights people believe people should have as a result, we’re still protecting heterosexuality’s pedestal.
Personally, I’d rather see that pedestal fall, and give people social and political rights regardless of whether their love for other people is caused by genes, their mother or the spaghetti monster.
Originally posted here on the Apositive.org forums. The lively discussion continues in a new thread.
My partner once remarked that since an asexual person’s love wasn’t about sexual attraction, it must be something more real and deep. That with an asexual you knew you were loved for who you are.
Sorry hon–and I do really love you–but that ain’t necessarily so. I can be shallow, too.
I’ve had more frivolous crushes than I can count on people I didn’t even like, for the stupidest reasons. I’ve noticed people based on their appearance, their scent, the way they write their fours. I’ve had feelings for girls simply because I found out they liked girls too. I’ve been interested in boys because they used to be girls. I’ve liked people because I couldn’t tell if they were a boy or a girl. I’ve fawned over men and women because they had a good singing voice or artistic skill, or because they were just so damned pretty I couldn’t take my eyes off them. Yeah, I’ve seen people on the street I instantly wanted to drag home for. . .tea.
Most enduring for me are intellectual infatuations–crushes on people’s brains, which sounds like a good enough reason for obsessing about someone, doesn’t it? But I’ve fallen for total jerks because they were intelligent and articulate.
I’m not immune to shallowness, and asexuality doesn’t make my love any more true or pure. Asexuality has always contributed to shyness about pursuing these attractions or being pursued, but I don’t think I’d have made better or worse choices were I sexual.
Asexual people can love others for the wrong reasons, sexual attraction just isn’t one of them. We are as prey as anyone to all the other human weaknesses; superficiality, vanity, pride, selfishness, loneliness, pity, curiosity, rivalry, you name it. We can be charmed or fooled, we can lie to ourselves, we can mislead and use and hurt other people. Our choices are not always good, our motivations are not always honest.
written by Apositive.org member Vittoria
Sex is great. Fan-bloody-tastic. Not only is it fun, it’s good for you. Burns calories, reduces stress, lowers risk of heart attack, prostate cancer and endometriosis, reaffirms the emotional bond between partners. If people spent more time blowing each other they’d have less time to blow each other up—Make Love, Not War and all that. I love sex. More people should have it (safely). I don’t feel compelled to jump in the pile, but that doesn’t mean I don’t think anyone else who wants to shouldn’t. There are a lot worse things people could be doing with their bodies.
Yes, I’m one of those sex-positive asexuals, which some take to mean an asexual who has sex, but I’m at a loss to find a better phrase for being asexual but endorsing sex as healthy and natural. Some asexuals think every single thing to do with the act is gross, gross, gross and want to hear, see or think about none of it. Those people make me feel lucky that I find sex interesting, intellectually at least, because hating sex while living in the modern world would be rather like disdaining oxygen. It’s everywhere, so either find something about it interesting or resign yourself to being a life-long grump monkey.
I’ve been interested in sex since I was a pre-teen. As a teenager I realised that though I found sex fascinating the physical act didn’t interest me. That discovery didn’t dampen my intellectual interest, however; it made sex even more interesting because it seemed such a driving force for so many people even though it wrecks lives and can have disastrous consequences. Anything with that kind of power is inherently fascinating, as are the ever-shifting social mores and taboos.
Then there are those who protest, “But surely, if you enjoy thinking about it so much you must really want to do it!” To that I say that I’m also fascinated by serial killers—it doesn’t mean I’m planning a spree. I find many things I’m not personally interested in utterly captivating. Their very popularity is what mystifies and compels me. Certain celebrities (whose massive popularity despite their lack of talent or intelligence) fall into the same category.
Having no vested interest in sex can give a person a more unprejudiced view of the mattress rodeo. From a purely anthropological view sex is grossly inaccurately portrayed by the media, abstinence-only education is an excellent way to support the tide of unwanted pregnancy and STDs, and people aren’t doing nearly as many kinky things as frequently as you might think.
Something I love about being a sex positive asexual are the responses from sexual people I receive. People never expect you to have seen a porno or know what bukkake is, let alone where the G-spot is located or that the real person in control in a dominant-submissive scene is the submissive partner. There is a special kind of joy in being able to talk unflappably about things that turn even your most liberal friends a lovely puce. They want to know why I’m such a pervo and I say that sex is like a restaurant—sexual people find the things they like and stay with that part of the menu, but asexuals (of the sex positive variety) wander by the buffet and check everything out because it’s all odd to us. Sure, some things are at the farther end of the wowwee spectrum, but for the most part it’s all baffling to us. We’re not thinking of ourselves in those situations so it’s more academic and less personal. Sex positive asexuals can be a sex positive sexual’s best ally.
And, of course, we don’t mind listening to you bitch about how annoying sex is, either.
by Apositive Admin
by Apositive Admin
Just recently we’ve been doing a lot of work on building up our 
My partner once remarked that since an asexual person’s love wasn’t about sexual attraction, it must be something more real and deep. That with an asexual you knew you were loved for who you are.