International Asexuality Awareness (Ace) week, took place from Oct. 23-29. At NCC, the Center for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion hosts multiple events to raise awareness for asexuality. They have a booth in the lobby of Wentz Science Center with information about this lesser-known identity.
Additionally, on Wednesday night, there was a screening of a movie with positive representations of asexual individuals. The movie shown was (A)sexual, which documents the experiences of people who experience little to no sexual attraction or desire.
“(It is) one of the only Ace-representative pieces of watchable media I’ve seen…and does a great job of providing various ace perspectives in a way that is easy to understand. Asexuality, just like sexuality as a whole, is a spectrum,” said Marissa Rybinski, ’23, multicultural peer educator and safe zone student coordinator.
It’s clear that Rybinski believes that there is also a need for more awareness and acceptance of this range of identities and experiences. “(In the movie), David Jay, the founder of asexuality.org encountered someone at a San Francisco Pride parade that says they do not believe in or condone asexuality,” said Rybinski, ’23. This points to her broader intention of hosting this particular event on campus.
Rybinski said that it is pointless to exclude anyone who identifies as asexual from having pride in their own identity. She explains that exclusionists are just perpetuating the stigma around being this particular identity.
“(It’s) as if (exclusion and lack of acceptance) isn’t already done for us by those who are actually outside the community,” said Rybinski, ’23.
There are resources to help ace and non ace individuals to better their understanding of this identity are available, including websites like Asexuality Visibility and Education network, Stonewall Organization and the Trevor Project’s article; Understanding Asexuality. Additionally, there are countless TikTok, Instagram and YouTube creators sharing their experiences as people on the asexual spectrum online. Even reading books with asexual characters is helpful for understanding this often misunderstood identity.
