‘“Asexual†Isn’t Who I Am’: The Politics of Asexuality

Matt Dawson, Susie Scott and Liz McDonnell
Additional contact information
Matt Dawson: University of Glasgow, UK
Susie Scott: University of Sussex, UK
Liz McDonnell: University of Sussex, UK

Sociological Research Online, 2018, vol. 23, issue 2, 374-391

Abstract: Some literature on asexuality has claimed that it is inherently radical and contains the potential for resistance. Unfortunately, this literature has tended to be unempirical, has imagined asexuality as a disembodied entity, and has marginalised the multiple identities held by asexual people. This article, inspired by Plummer’s critical humanist approach, seeks to explore how individuals understand their asexuality to encourage forms of political action in the areas of identity, activism, online spaces, and LGBT politics. What we found was a plurality of experiences and attitudes with most adopting a pragmatic position in response to their social situation which saw large-scale political action as irrelevant. We conclude by reflecting on what these results mean for those who see asexuality as potentially radical.

Keywords: asexuality; critical humanism; identity; LGBT; sexuality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1360780418757540 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:socres:v:23:y:2018:i:2:p:374-391

DOI: 10.1177/1360780418757540

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Sociological Research Online
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().