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Aspec Sex Workers

In honor of International Sex Worker’s Day, June 2, we are posting perspectives from ace and aro people who are or ever have done any kind of sex work. We defined “sex work” expansively, including any kind of kink, fetish, or domination work, pornography, sensual massage, webcam sex work, phone sex, erotic performance, sexual surrogacy, full-service sex work, or any other kind of sexual services performed for money.

Sex workers’ profession is often criminalized, and sex work is stigmatized and demeaned in most communities, and that includes within asexual and aromantic communities. It is important to lift up the voices of sex workers and support them in their efforts to live their lives with safety, dignity, and without social shame. For more information on the history of sex work and how to best support sex workers, check out our list on Bookshop.org here: https://bookshop.org/lists/deconstructing-patriarchal-sexuality.

Thank you to all who volunteered their time and shared their experiences.

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Aspec Perspectives on Masturbation and Libido – Part Three

May is International Masturbation Month. Many people have assumptions about how aspec people, particularly ace people, interact with masturbation and libido – from thinking that people with libidos can’t be asexual to not understanding that masturbation may not be sexual for some people, or that sexual pleasure is not incompatible with asexuality.

Many people volunteered to share their experiences, and we are incredibly grateful to all of them for that. This is the third and last of multiple articles on Aspec Perspectives on Masturbation and Libido.

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Aro Women

We continue our series of Aspec Voices. Once again, we are focusing on the struggles and issues of specific parts of the aro community.

Aromantic women, women-aligned, and feminine-aligned people are usually the majority demographic in aro spaces, but the interaction of what it’s like to be both a woman and aro is often overlooked. Thank you to all who volunteered their time and shared their experiences.

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ASAW 2022 – Demi and Gray Aros

We continue our series of Aspec Voices for Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week. Once again, we are focusing on the struggles and issues of specific parts of the aro community – people who are often overlooked by mainstream alloromantic people talking about orientations and even hidden within aro communities.

Aromanticism is often seen as a complete absence of sexual attraction, but it is a full spectrum; people in the gray area of the spectrum often go unheard, and we wanted to highlight some of their voices. Thank you to all who volunteered their time and shared their experiences.

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ASAW 2022 – Sex Favorable Aros

We continue our series of Aspec Voices for Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week. Once again, we are focusing on the struggles and issues of specific parts of the aro community – people who are often overlooked by mainstream alloromantic people talking about orientations and even hidden within aro communities.

Because romance is often tied to sex, aromantics who are sex favorable often feel ostracized both in aro communities as well as in wider society. We wanted to highlight some of their voices. Thank you to all who volunteered their time and shared their experiences.

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ASAW 2022 – Single or Non-Partnering Aros

We continue our series of Aspec Voices for Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week. Once again, we are focusing on the struggles and issues of specific parts of the aro community – people who are often overlooked by mainstream alloromantic people talking about orientations and even hidden within aro communities.

Our society is set up to prioritize romantic relationships and often marginalizes people who are permanently single or non-partnering. Since there are many aromantic people who identify as single or non-partnering, we wanted to hear from them about how this impacts their lives and experiences within aro communities.

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ASAW 2022 – Disabled and Neurodivergent Aros

We continue our series of Aspec Voices for Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week. Once again, we are focusing on the struggles and issues of specific parts of the aro community – people who are often overlooked by mainstream alloromantic people talking about orientations and even hidden within aro communities.

Aromantic people who have disabilities or neurodivergences are often overlooked or ignored, so we wanted to highlight some of their voices. Thank you to all who volunteered their time and shared their experiences.

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ASAW 2022 – Aros and Parenting

We continue our series of Aspec Voices for Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week. Once again, we are focusing on the struggles and issues of specific parts of the aro community – people who are often overlooked by mainstream alloromantic people talking about orientations and even hidden within aro communities.

Aromantic people who have children or want them aren’t heard from often, and many don’t have the resources or representation they deserve, so we wanted to highlight some of their voices. Thank you to all who volunteered their time and shared their experiences.

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Feedback to WPATH Standards of Care

WPATH, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, is a non-profit organization that creates and maintains Standards of Care that help dictate how health providers, institutions, and insurance plans all over the world provide health care to transgender and gender diverse individuals.  It is also used by trans people, their support systems, and other institutions to better understand how to best support trans individuals. 

From time to time, WPATH revises its Standards of Care and requests input from interested parties.  WPATH is currently accepting such feedback on the latest proposed changes at https://www.wpath.org/soc8 with a deadline of January 16th, 2022 at 11:59pm GMT.  There are many unjust, regressive, and harmful proposed elements that need to be pushed back against, and this is the chance to do that.

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