Watching the Invisible was presented by TAAAP advocates at MBLGTACC in 2023, a conference dedicated to educating the Midwestern collegiate audience on queer history, activism, and identity. Aromanticism and asexuality are rarely depicted in popular media, and when they are that representation tends to be limited or to misunderstand our identities. Our presentation discussed why representing aro and ace identities is important, what we’ve seen thus far, and what we want to see in the future. We also discussed the ways in which media affirms, disparages, or erases our identities.
Continue reading “MBLGTACC 2023 – Watching the Invisible: Aromanticism and Asexuality in Media”MBLGTACC 2023 – Moving Beyond Relationship Hierarchies to Community Care with Relationship Anarchy
Moving Beyond… was presented by TAAAP advocates at MBLGTACC in 2023, a conference dedicated to educating the Midwestern collegiate audience on queer history, activism, and identity. This presentation explores the ways in which relationship hierarchies, and their colonial origins, currently shape our communities and the limits they have imposed on our ability to create caring, long-lasting ties. With that as context, we offer ideas based in the concept of relationship anarchy on how to create communities that better serve our needs and desires.
Continue reading “MBLGTACC 2023 – Moving Beyond Relationship Hierarchies to Community Care with Relationship Anarchy”February ’24 TAAAP Pride Chats – ASAW
February is a special month, as it includes Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week! We’ll leave the server open from Sunday, February 18 at 10am Eastern to 11:59pm Eastern Saturday, February 24. (That’s 3 PM GMT Sunday through 5 AM GMT Saturday)
Although it is ASAW, we welcome anyone, aro or not, to join us. Also, you can obviously feel free to expand beyond the topics posted each day – this is meant as a useful starting point.
August ’23 TAAAP Pride Chats – Media Representation
Asexual and aromantic representation, we love to see it and there’s slowly been more and more lately! So the theme for this month’s pride chat is Media Representation! Share and discuss any ace and/or aro rep you have seen, what you would still like to see, what you like and what you dislike, and feel free to include rep you’ve created if you want!
August Pride Chats will be from August 25, 2023 10am ET/2pm UTC to August 27, 2023 11:59 PM/3:59am UTC.
April ’23 TAAAP Pride Chats – Education and Awareness
With more aspec non-fiction being published lately such as ACE, Refusing Compulsory Sexuality, and our very own Ace & Aro Journeys, this month’s topic will be Education and Awareness regarding aspec identities and issues. Even with these books, there’s a long way to go and we’re eager to hear your ideas on how we can get there!
April’s Pride Chats will be open from Friday April 28th at 10am ET/2pm UTC to Sunday the 30th at 11:59pm ET/Monday 1 May 3:59am UTC!
March ’23 TAAAP Pride Chats – Compulsory Sexuality
For March’s Pride chats the topic is compulsory sexuality, referring to the ways in which certain kinds of sexuality are systemically pushed on certain demographics. As an example, in many cases, people are expected to be sexually active by a certain age and with people of certain genders.
The chats will be open beginning Saturday the 25th at 10 am Eastern and will close Monday the 27th at 11:59 pm Eastern.
MBLGTACC 2022 – In Defiance of White Supremacist Relationship Hierarchies
In Defiance of… is one of the presentations that TAAAP advocates gave at MBLGTACC in 2022, a conference dedicated to educating the Midwestern collegiate audience on queer history, activism, and identity. This workshop focused on white supremacy, amatonormativity, and the ways in which they attempt to control the sexuality of POC and ethnic minorities, impose reproductive and domestic labour, and negatively impact queer activism and community formation. We explored the meanings and histories of the institution of marriage, compulsory sexuality, and related topics, and brainstormed how we can resist these punitive ideologies and organise as a community outside of such structures.
This presentation has been adapted so that it can be used by others. It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License (plain text | legal text). If you would like to use this in a presentation where you are being paid to present or some other use outside the scope of this license, please contact us at [email protected] to ask for permission. It may not be presented without permission.
December ’22 TAAAP Pride Chats – Free For All
This month Pride Chats weekend overlaps with what is the holidays for many people – in lieu of a formal topic, we invite you to come and talk about whatever you would like! We will have one channel designated for seasonal discussion while all other channels will be open for whatever else is on your minds. Hope to see you there!
The server will be open from 10:30 am Eastern (3:30pm GMT) on Friday, December 23rd to 11:59 pm Eastern on Sunday, December 25th (4:59am GMT Monday). Per usual we will try to have 2 hour voice chats both days, based on availability of participants.
November ’22 TAAAP Pride Chats – Coalitions and Allyship
The theme for November Pride Chats is Coalitions and Allyship – this covers anything from the broader ideas of political and communal coalitions to smaller scale engagement with people in your daily life. What kind of support does the Aspec community need? What causes are we already connected to? How can those close to us best support us?
All of the usual channels will be open, along with the channels specifically to discuss the Carnival of Aros and the Carnival of Aces.
The server will be open from 10:00 am Eastern (3pm GMT) on Friday, November 25th to 11:59 pm Eastern on Sunday November 27th (4:59am GMT Monday). Per usual we will try to have 2 hour voice chats both days, based on availability of participants.
October ’22 TAAAP Pride Chats – Ace Week
October is a special month, as it includes Ace Week, so the server will be open from Saturday, October 22 through Sunday, October 30. The overarching theme for Ace Week this year is Boundless Creativity – we encourage you to share any of your creative endeavors with us!
For each individual day, we have themes just to help prompt discussion, though you are of course welcome to focus on any topic throughout the week. The daily themes are as follows:
- Saturday 10/22: Hopes and Plans for Ace Week
- Sunday 10/23: Art and Pride
- Monday 10/24: Activism
- Tuesday 10/25: Relationships
- Wednesday 10/26: Gender
- Thursday 10/27: Solo Life and Singleness
- Friday 10/28: Community
- Saturday 10/29: Media Representation and Art
- Sunday 10/30: Closing Thoughts
The rest of the Discord will still be open, along with the channels specifically to discuss the Carnival of Aros and the Carnival of Aces.