An asexual person is a person who does not experience sexual
attraction- Aven
Most surveys say that 1% of the population is asex
ual. So how
come that 1% doesn’t get represented? I can think of two YA books with
confirmed asexual characters, and that is only because I found them in an AVEN
thread. I talk to KATY about this.
How do you feel about asexual representation in YA?
I feel that asexuals aren’t really represented much. Most of
the characters that seem asexual are never confirmed. I guess that’s because it’s
slightly harder to work out if someone is asexual or not without the author explicitly
stating it.
Do you think there should be more asexual characters?
Well... yes and no. I
don’t want characters to be made asexual for the sake of it, but at the same
time, it would increase visibility, which would be good.
Are some possibly asexual characters subject to erasure?
No, I think it’s more like people don’t know about
asexuality, so they don’t include asexual characters.
Have you read any books containing asexual charcters?
Like I said/wrote earlier, asexualty doesn’t tend to get
confirmed, so no. I know there are some books out there, but I haven’t got
round to reading them yet. It’s so difficult to tell whether or not a character
is asexual or not because sexual attraction is different to romantic
attraction, and aesthetic attraction. The
general advice when deciding sexuality is to work it out for yourself because no
one knows exactly how you feel. Unfortunately, characters aren’t real XD!
Do you think writers ever try and write for the asexual
market?
Yes, but I think that those authors are asexual themselves. Every
so often, I hear about books written by asexual authors for the asexual market,
but most are in the adult genre. But asexual enjoy reading normal books, just
like everyone else.
I can only think of one YA book with an asexual character in it, Quicksilver by R.J. Anderson.
ReplyDeleteOk see my thing with this is. Even in reality in normal every day life you don't go around asking someone if they are asexual and I don't think someone just comes out and says something like that. You learn things like gender identity and sexual preference etc by getting to know someone and over the course of time. Are some people very upfront about it? Yes - but I don't think its that they are under represented but that sometimes authors leave it up to your own interpretation.
ReplyDeleteNot every character that is introduced is the main characters love interest so how do you know if one of them is or isn't asexual? To me gender identity doesn't matter. I'm reading and liking the characters and I don't care about their sexuality either way.