Existence, Connection, and Joy: How Asexual People Resist Compulsory Sexuality Online

• In Event: 50661 - Section on Sociology of Sexualities Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 2: Making/Being in Communities

Abstract

Asexual people often face rejection from friends, family, and peers due to misconceptions. These misconceptions emerge from a framework of compulsory sexuality, which describes how institutions center and enforce people having sex, sexual desire, and sexual attraction, while oppressing those who do not. Using a sample of sixty-eight Instagram posts using the #ThisIsWhatAsexualLooksLike hashtag, I examine how asexual people present themselves in ways that defy compulsory sexuality’s assumptions and generate resistance that challenges more than heteronormativity. Using the compulsory sexuality framework, I find asexual people resist invisibility, invalidation, and misconceptions through online representation, showcasing their existence, connection to others, and joy as forms of resistance. Further, asexual people resist exclusion from the LGBTQ+ community and asexual people of color resist the association between asexuality and whiteness. I demonstrate the need for a compulsory sexuality approach to be taken in research, healthcare, and policymaking.

Author

• Audrey Marie Lutmer, Georgia State University