Not to point fingers or anything but considering how very little accurate information about and mainstream knowledge there is of asexuality [particularly in comparison to other queer identities] in 2017, after literal years of aces campaigning for it, I find it mighty suspicious that increasingly every exclusionist I see claims to have been “””tricked”” into identifying as ace at an age when information about it was borderline nonexistent and very difficult to find, and the definitions involved were nowhere near as inclusive or accessible as they are today.
ace character (the other is a white sex indifferent girl). truthfully the story is more about interpersonal relationships and found family with dashes of action than about any of the characters identities. im ace myself and this character is someone i feel i can really get ppl to identify with. do you have any tips about staying in my lane/what to avoid?
Well, let’s be very specific; it’s some Asian men that suffer desexualization in the given term. Largely, when we discuss the Asian experience, we are talking about objectification – the removal of a voice and autonomy in their sexuality.
Desexualizing Asian men often occurs when they’re in comparison to ‘real men’ and ‘real male sexuality’. It’s a quick way to ‘emasculate’ the partners of Asian women, and tell these women that they deserve better than men who can’t fulfill their little womanly desires.
But in my experience, Asian men are much more likely to be objectified alongside Asian non-men, than they are to be desexualized. Because we’re not just talking about your given straight cisgender frat boys in State, we’re taking about any and all sexual individuals who have their own misconceptions of Asian people, and how Asian people relate to their sexual desires.
In my own experience of being aspec and Asian, the primary reaction (upon someone knowing that I am both) is an immediate reduction of my worth as a person. I was invited to this party to stand there and be sexy, not because I’m an actual guest. Insert-fellow-college-student-here will never ask for my peer opinion again, because why bother talking to me at all? Date #1 asks me if I know what ‘asexuality actually means’ and orders me to imagine an erect penis, date #2 turns into a therapist with an obvious intent to ‘cure my trauma’ so they can continue the night as planned, date #3 gets dangerously angry and is seconds from having a meltdown because they ‘don’t appreciate being lied to’.
So as you can probably guess, I’m very much not impressed with the sudden interest in telling Asian people that we could NOT be asexual, and having that movement couched as progressiveness.
It’s more than ‘enforcing stereotypes’. It’s about the lack of real-life Asian voices regardless the material. AKA, a lack of paychecks paid towards us, a lack of media attention, a lack of autonomy over our creative endeavors.
Writing characters of color is a discussion in itself. We (and by ‘we’, I mean both white and not) will most likely encounter characters of color that engage the audience like the audience is white. Or, at the very least, not of their own race and culture.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, and it can be carefully justified. A good example includes Raul from Fallout New Vegas – one of the companions the player can recruit. Raul is voiced by a famous American latin-american-speaking actor, Raul’s spanish words are not translated in the subtitles, Raul makes several allusions to his life in Mexico as a Mexican man.
Raul is no token Mexican stereotype, he is a character with strong Mexican backgrounds and stands on his two feet as a character of color. He talks to the player in a way that implies that the player is shoehorned into being not Mexican themselves, but it’s only a slight suspicion and you can also say his outsider’s opinion on the player’s background can instead be attributed to his age – he’s nearly 200 years old, and talks about the world pre-nuclear apocalypse.
Is Raul ‘obviously’ written by a non-Mexican writer? You’d have to talk to someone who’d be more familiar with that, but there’s enough on Raul’s benefit for me to claim that he’s a passible example of a fictional man of color.
So what’s a character obviously written by white people, for white people? Continuing the Latin route, Mass Effect: Andromeda’s Reyes Vidal is… hhhhhh. His face is a white model spraypainted tan, instead of having different hairlines or a differently shaped nose and mouth and forehead and etc. He’s voiced by a white british actor who does an atrocious job at faking some sort of spicy latin accent. He exists primarily as some sort of captivating, mysterious Sexual Being – every interaction with Reyes involves dates, or otherwise hints at sexual histories. Any moment that doesn’t, it’s about his failure as an honest man.
He’s obviously meant to be a sexual interest. That itself wouldn’t be a problem, but add in the fake ‘latin’ accent and spraypainted white model and lack of any indicator of him as someone from an actual culture and society? Very not good.
Reyes is what happens when you take your default white character, and decide to spruce him up for spiciness points. Raul, on the other hand, is someone who was built from the ground up as having that very specific of color experience.
The mistakes that gave way to Mass Effect’s Reyes is what I see most primarily, and it’s what I encourage all to avoid.
So lets consider your goal of writing a Korean man, and compare the worst case scenario versus what you’d want to aim for. So you, under pen name Cassandra Blair, introduce Yoosung Baekhyun (named after your favorite dating sim character and kpop member combined into one), and he’s a lily-delicate elven boytoy when he enters the room. By chapter five, it’s clear that our exotic ricefairy has neither interest nor knowledge of sexuality, leaving him completely out of any sexual discussion – and therefore by extension, he has little voice in any written development in bodily autonomy.
Everything about Yoosung Baekhyun is to be pliant under the hands of an outside force. If he doesn’t have neither an interest nor a voice in sexual discussions, that leaves a big empty hole where anyone could fill it with whatever, should they wish. His lack of voice and autonomy makes him into an object for the purposes of your other characters.
Instead, let’s say that Yoosung has a voice. A large one. He’s got that Jughead sarcasm when it comes to dealing with sexuality, and gets to both start and end these discussions. Suddenly, this Korean man gets to control the flow of the story, and he’s not just a prop to be used.
That’d probably be more accurate, anyways. Aspec people love to talk about their asexuality. I know I do.
There’s very little I can tell you without actually reading the story. Criticism of literature should (and sometimes do) have a huge emphasis on justice-driven portrayals of the marginalized. Thing is, criticism is a paid profession that is useless in small doses. From one artist to another, I say unto you – write your story, but get more voices of color to give you their honest opinion. And then change, and change often. Your efforts will never be perfect, but you can do much to avoid the worst.
Bogaert, Anthony F. Understanding Asexuality. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2012. (page 34)
For those of you wanting some scholarly evidence of aroace coded Jughead, this exists and was published in 2012. 4 years before it was confirmed canon. so like. yeah. this is a thing.
What is that? A character that’s allowed to be asexual and say it and be happy they figured a part of their identity out? A character that’s asexual and it’s not used as a punchline to a joke or as an excuse to shit on asexuality (looking at you, House MD)?
Honestly, I was a bit scared of this season 4. I haven’t even identified as asexual for long, but I already know media have had trouble putting us in shows without disrespecting our identities, without making fun of us and spreading harmful ideas about it (thanks again, House MD) or without telling us that all we needed was to find a person willing to harass us sexually enough until we’d give in to their sexual demands (thank you, The Big Bang Theory, for turning Amy into a sex-crazed nymphomaniac out of nowhere and forcing Sheldon into a relationship he’s never wanted to begin with). I was scared that Netflix would pull some similar shit too.
So when in episode 1 of this new season Emily said “asexual” I sort of doubled back because… the word was uttered? In its specificity? It’s a thing that was said without dodging the concept? Oh my god. The interesting thing about that conversation in the season premiere is that Todd’s reaction is not one that differs too much from my own, back when I first heard of asexuality. I definitely did reject the label (back then I only identified as bi and thought I was settled, that I’d figured it out, but especially that I might be a weirdo but I wasn’t “that much of a weirdo” so I understand wanting to distance yourself from the label of asexuality. It’s one that threatens everything you grow up with, it threatens what you might already believe of yourself, and maybe it comes at a time when you’re not ready for it. But then finally Todd embraced it, and… “it actually feels nice to say it out loud”. I feel you, buddy. I feel you so much. And then going to a group for aces? Accepting himself? And that expression he makes when he meets them, it’s how I felt when I accepted myself. And that is just… so much. I’m so proud and happy right now. I was always used to linking asexuality with shame at least outside of the internet, and it’s the first time I see it treated as something normal and not something to be ashamed of or something to change and “fix”. Take note, other tv shows, this is how you do it.
Also, another note: it’s such a nice coincidence that Tim Gunn was in this episode!
GUYS
tag urself, im the anteater standing at the door waiting to escape this social
Also available in gift packaging, which includes a small poster of ‘Artemis Soap’ advertisement, a bio-card of Artemis the deity, gift wrapping, and optional custom message!
Maybe this wouldn’t feel so fuckin hollow and like you actually supported asexuals if we all didn’t know it was made in response to Artemis being called a lesbian.
buddy i am literally an ace inclusionist that made my way across shitty blocklists and trash like that, im a mod on fuckyeahasexual, this isnt the first ace art ive ever made
and yes, this soap deity was made in full awareness of this weird deity discourse, literally everything in my soap series is made with awareness including the skintone of this model
Yeah look man it feels hollow and like ur trying to be spiteful to lesbians like I’m just really questioning if you made this specifically for aces or for the purpose of trying to rub it in the faces of lesbians/people who worship her as a lesbian
this soap was made first by painstakenly crafting a master from sculpty, then casting it in liquid silicone. the soaps themselves are made to order on a backlist because every bar takes 5-6 days to emulsify and undergo proper saponification before curing into proper soap, all materials cost me hefty amounts of money i definitely wouldnt make on a whim, the accompanying poster alone took 8-9 hours to paint, and this times x4 because ive got three/four other pride-themed soap types alongside
so no, i did not make this soap because ‘lmao lesbians’
its of vital importance to me, a brown trans neurodivergent and shit-poor ace, to bring aspec visibility far and wide. why did i choose artemis? no real huge discourse-y reason, but if i was gonna base the design after some art-deco-esque posterchild it’d be some classist beauty that everyone and their mother has a hardon for bc ‘classy’, and no symbol is popularized more in the aspec community than our very dear original aroace
how entitled does one person gotta be before they see someone’s hard work and think ‘this person obviously created these soaps because they hate lesbians’
The choice of Artemis was literally to say she’s aroace and be spiteful to lesbians is what I’m hearing
I’m losing my mind cuz not only is this petty and nasty as hell but the soap looks fucking ugly
I’m laughing so hard this soap is so fucking ugly. if you touch it it gives you a skin disease that’s how ugly it is. my 10 year old sister could do better in art class. like what is it even supposed to be it’s so ugly
I don’t think it’s ugly, just very poorly made, like a kindergartener’s first try. But otherwise I agree with the others, its made for awful reasons, and would it kill people to read their sources before making such conclusions about this goddess?
Hey @ all of you assholes, maybe don’t insult someone’s hard work when they tell you they are a trans ace poc who is in need of money and just trying to sell some soap so they can survive. Like, how fucking shitty do you have to be to tell someone that something they made is ugly after they told you all the effort they put in to it.
And no, they didn’t make it for awful reasons. You guys twisted their words and intentions around because you guys are pissed off that they used Artemis, a well known a-spec symbol, for a soap made for a-specs. It doesn’t matter if there was some ridiculous discourse about her, Artemis is an a-spec symbol and always will be. You can headcanon her as a lesbian all you want, there’s nothing wrong with that, but you cannot steal her from the a-spec community. You all got pissed off about the moon and fucking purple of all things, so I’m sure you know how it feels when suddenly you think a symbol for your community might be getting stolen. I don’t care what your headcanons for Artemis are, just don’t turn everything involving her and the a-spec community, like this soap, into discourse when it isn’t.
^^^^^^^God bless.
–Mod Mercy
I think I get it now. Aphobes literally think that aces (and aros) only exist as a “counter force” to otherwise lgbt+ people.
Please let that sink in. They literally believe that a whole spectrum of sexualities is willingly homo- and transphobic (because apparently there’s no in-between /s) to counter them.
What. The fuck. I finally understand aphobes and it’s even scarier than I imagined.
“It’s about cishet aces” – say aphobes, as they attack and mock a trans poc who is just trying to make money by selling homemade soaps.
If you align yourself with REGs or exclusionists of any kind, I hope you know what kind of people you’re supporting.
Because they aren’t good people.
Person: *Makes an a-spec Artemis themed bar soap.*
Aphobes: “I’m sure this is homophobic somehow.”
The first half of this post chain gets the official seal:
@ all the shitty assholes rambling about the cast being low quality:
Have y’all ever made a fucking soap? In fact, have y’all ever even SEEN A GODDAMN DECO SOAP IN YOUR SHITSCREAMING LIVES?
See this?
This is a pretty bog standard cast soap.
See how it has no details? So how it’s so shapeless that it’s more like the implication of a flower that your mind fills in the blanks?
See how it’s a single color with no differentiation?
That’s because THAT’S WHAT CASTING LOOKS LIKE.
And here is OP, making some next level soap. You look at that soap, and you don’t have the vague implication of a huntress, you have a completely defined woman with a bow and a hound over a floral backdrop.
Do y’all have any fuckign idea what kind of commitment it takes to cast something with that many fucking details in it?
And for OP to have made the mold, instead of bought it or hired it out?
To have made the fucking master ?????
Fuck all of y’all and your total fuckign disrespect for a fuckign artisal goddamn product that takes fuckign week sto fuckign produce.
Go get yourself a shitty bottle of fuckin SoftSoap and dry your fuckign skin out with it until your hands split and your face is so covered in oil from all the overcompensation that you start to fucking drip.
It’s about all you fuckign deserve, you little shits.
@OP I’m gonna need a minute to figure out if you’re using any of my multitudinous allergens in your soaps, but you bet your ass I’m buying one
its also right behind artemis in sales; in between storenvy and etsy, 11 individual artemis soaps have been bought compared to 5 sappho soaps. guanyin the trans pride soap ties with also 5 sales.
like yeah im not that emotionally invested in the sappho soap because im a) not a woman and b) im honestly kinda tired of greek/classist culture as a whole but sappho the pride soap is an ernest creation made dedicated to love between women and artemis is just another creation of love along the same lines
whitemanning critical 
