Public Service Announcement

[starfoozle]

Hello. Asexuality exists.

It's been kind of a crappy week for aces in media. Between Moffat's poorly-thought-out comments regarding Sherlock via Twitter, the House brain-tumor-or-lies debacle, and now Tim Gunn catching all kinds of flak for being celibate (which is not the same thing as asexuality but gets many of the same unexpectedly nasty

Comments

[draycevixen]

I don't know why people struggle so hard with this and I'm particularly surprised when otherwise liberal and well-informed friends and acquaintances who acknowledge the full spectrum of sexuality still dismiss asexuality as "well, they just haven't met the right person yet" or "they express emotional feelings towards others so they can't be asexual" and other such rank stupidity

[starfoozle]

Oh, gosh, exactly. This is precisely the reason I'm quiet about it IRL -- the few times I've brought it up in a context unrelated to myself, the idea got an "oh, poor things should get therapy or their hormones checked" type of response. It particularly breaks my heart to see asexuality dismissed by some other queer communities. It's like, come on, guys. Really?

See, when it comes to fiction (especially fanfiction!) I say do whatever you like -- the point of the thing is to play with ideas, and it's a heck of a lot of fun. :D

I think if most people were honest with themselves about the complexity (or not) of their own sexuality they'd realize that there's nothing clear cut about it. Perhaps it's that very thought that scares some people. There are all kinds of complexities related to any aspect of human nature, and anything to do with sex happens to be one that seems to make the general public desperately uncomfortable. Everybody's got their own quirks

[lostsailors]

I don't know if I would classify myself as completely asexual (or anything) but on a sliding scale I DEFINITELY slide that way. People find it really hard to believe that certain people don't care about sex or don't NEEEEEEEEEED it all the time or actually could just never have it at all and never be bothered. I've always thought that was weird. And anyone getting any information from House- EL OH EL. That's all I have to say to that

[starfoozle]

I thought the reaction to the Tim Gunn interview was really weird. The headline was something like "Tim Gunn Hasn't Had Sex for 29 Year!" making it out to be a somehow astonishing thing, and the comments were all "Oh, that isn't normal, sex is a biological imperative for all mammals yadda yadda," "he should get therapy and get his hormones checked, poor thing," or, my personal favorite, "liar." Really

[lostsailors]

Yeah all those comments about Tim Gunn are SO STRANGE and uncalled for. That's what I mean where people LITERALLY DON'T GET some people could just not have sex, for decades or ever, and not really care or feel like they are missing out. REALLY IT HAPPENS! I know it's hard to believe! Except not really

[last01standing]

Fuck, looked like I picked a bad week to join in on this. I saw the stuff from Moffat a few days ago. Which made me six sorts of angry considering Holmes was my first real intro to asexuality, but you know what fuck 'em. Someone's sexuality is no one's business but their own and maybe that of the person their fucking (or not fucking, whatever.).

(I appear to be in a fairly pissy mood. I blame the fact that i spent something like three hours cross-sectioning paints today in the presence of people who shouldn't really hear me cursing.)

[starfoozle]

So it would seem. Between this fandom bullshit, our previous discussions, and an unexpected, brief and awkward chat about the topic with two people in the dorm, I can't seem to avoid this topic this week. It also appears it has made me rather emotionally volatile, hence this post.

Fuck 'em indeed. Or, you know, not.

(Cross-sectioning paints? I assume that has something to do with analyzing forgeries, but keep getting stuck on the mental image of chopping a tube of acrylic into very thin slices.)

[last01standing]

Aw, you so very rarely curse, that I still have the 'that's adorable' moment when you do. I'm sorry this sort of stuff is coming up IRL, I dunno if it's as tight knit as MC was, but I can't imaging this kind of shit cropping up in a community that close with going ballistic myself. You know if you ever need to just bail for a bit, I've got a couch where you're more than welcome. (I'm probably going to make a trip to tech myself at one point this semester. It's either going to be in mid february or early april. I've not decided yet.)

(And yes, cross-sectioning paints is a very good thing for hit and runs and things. There are many layers of different colors and some of them are shiny. There were microscopes, scalpels and tweezers involved.)

[starfoozle]

Haaaa, obviously you haven't heard me when I've got a test coming up. The discussions I had in the dorm were...mixed. One was with the roommate, which went well because she is basically the loveliest person ever, but the other didn't go quite so well (there's a sizeable group of Sherlock fans in the dorm and somebody brought up Moffat's recent comments, which led the discussion down a path that turned out to be less than satisfactory. Eh, you win some, you lose some, I guess.) It's just weird that all of this happened in the same week. Kind of draining.

Seriously, if I had a way to get to where you are (no car, alas) I would totally crash on your couch for a weekend. Lord knows I get antsy here sometimes. Whenever you're coming down, let me know, and I'll make some floorspace and/or kick a certain idiot out of the lounge again.

Oooh, cross-sectioning sounds like something I'd like, then. Seriously, you're gonna have the coolest job ever.