Category Archives: Interviews

Speaking at Creating Change: Asexual Voices Panel

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Today I’m heading to Atlanta, Georgia for Creating Change, which is the National Conference on LGBT Equality, put on by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. It is the largest yearly gathering of of activists, organizers, and leaders in the LGBT movement. And I’m one of them!

I’m one of the speakers on the Asexual Voices Panel. With three other asexual speakers and a moderator, my co-panelists and I are providing discussion of asexual experiences and outreach, with a thirty-minute presentation and a sixty-minute question-and-answer session.

acevoices

(We had a last-minute change and Christina couldn’t make it. M. LeClerc from Boston is our replacement.)

We are also having an asexual caucus immediately afterwards.

acecaucus

Last year Sara Beth and David went to this same conference and there was a really warm response, with a high demand for our materials and an avalanche of interest when they screened the documentary movie (A)sexual (which I was in). We hope to make even more connections, learn more about allying with the larger LGBTQ community, teach people about our community, and have a lot of fun.

People at the conference can come to our panel at 4:45 on Friday. People at home can follow our tweets (#cc13) or check out the Livestream.

And since lots of people supported our fundraising campaign for the trip to Creating Change, we’ll also be preparing their rewards. Fifty-two people donated to our cause and I’m sure even more want to see us succeed, so we want to be able to show them some results. I hope to be able to share some pictures, videos, and stories when I come back, after which I will redouble my efforts to polish my nonfiction book (So You Think You’re Asexual: An Introduction to the Invisible Orientation). I’m going to take test readers for the first time, and probably go back to querying as one agent who’s followed up with me twice now seems to be dragging his feet.

Interview: Drake Magazine

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My interview in Drake Magazine was published today.

Read some quotes from me and some other asexual people/asexual authorities in “Shedding light on asexuality: a misunderstood sexual orientation.”

Please note that the author of the piece, strangely enough, does not define asexuality correctly despite having talked to several experts on the subject. I’m curious about where she got this idea: “Asexuality is the complete lack of sexual drive and desire. Asexuals do not actively seek out sex or even get horny.” Asexuality is not the lack of sex drive or desire, and asexual people can indeed both seek out sex and get horny (not that they all DO). The author also opines that asexual people’s minds are never “in the gutter.” I know way too many asexual people with dirty minds to agree with that.

So take the article with a grain of salt.

(A)sexual premieres at Frameline Film Festival

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(A)sexual is an independent documentary film about asexuality, asexual people, asexual people’s lives, and the making of a movement.  I’m a major “character” in the film. It is available at the following places: Netflix, Amazon, iTunes, YouTube, Vudu, Xbox Live, and PlayStation, or the trailer on Vimeo.

Stats:

  • Director: Angela Tucker
  • Producers: Katy Chevigny, Beth Davenport, Jolene Pinder
  • Executive Producer: Ewa Bigio
  • Editor: Michelle Chang
  • Main Interviewees: David Jay, Barb, Swank Ivy, Elizabeth, Brian
  • Running Time: 75 minutes
  • Production Company: Arts Engine/Big Mouth Films

Premiered: Frameline Film Festival – San Francisco – June 18, 2011

Other Film Festivals Shown: MIX COPENHAGEN (formerly known as Copenhagen Gay & Lesbian Film Festival), Reeling 2011: The Chicago Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival, Queersicht (Bern, Switzerland), Vox Feminae Festival (Zagreb, Croatia), New Orleans Film Festival, Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, NewFest Film Festival (New York).

Official description: Facing a sex obsessed culture, a mountain of stereotypes and misconceptions, and a lack of social or scientific research, asexuals–people who experience no sexual attraction–struggle to claim their identity.

(A)sexual follows the growth of a community that experiences no sexual attraction. In 2000, David Jay came out to his parents. He was asexual and was fine with it. And he was not alone. Studies show that 1% of the population is asexual. But in a society obsessed with sex, how do you deal with life as an outsider? Combining intimate interviews, verite footage, and animation with fearless humor and pop culture imagery, David and our four other characters grapple with this universal question and the outcomes might surprise you.

This independent documentary introduces the audience to the concept of asexuality–the sexual orientation of not finding anyone sexually attractive–and subjects viewers to both good information and popular misconceptions. Largely following the life and mission of asexual poster boy David Jay (founder of the Asexual Visibility and Education Network), we’re introduced to how asexuals handle intimacy, what the different kinds of asexuals are, what they do to spread awareness, and what the people who study them think.

(A)sexual is both a discussion of asexuality and a slice-of-life portrayal of how several asexuals live their lives, combined with information and commentary from sexologists, researchers, and random people on the street.

Interview: (A)sexual by Arts Engine

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I’ve been picked to be one of the representative asexual folks discussing asexuality issues in the upcoming feature length indie documentary (A)sexual.  Today was my interview.

The producer decided to include me because I suppose my videos on the ‘Net are important enough to the outreach for the movement. I’m happy they decided to do that, because I like having an opportunity to make my voice heard and contribute my unique strands here.

I had three production crew members in my apartment this afternoon: an interviewer, a photographer, and a cameraman. (Well, they all did more than that, but those seemed to be their main functions while they were with me.) And the first thing they did (after setting up HUGE LIGHTS and clipping one of those shmancy microphones on me) was videotape me videotaping myself.

Continue reading →

Quoted: Contemporary Sexuality

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Jumping off some quotes I made to Salon earlier this year, I seem to have found myself quoted a bunch of times in AASECT’s newsletter, Contemporary Sexuality.

“Asexuality Gets More Attention, But Is It a Sexual Orientation?”

aasectI wasn’t specifically asked about having my quotes appear here, but I was represented pretty well. Sadly, the article does spend a lot of time suggesting asexuality is a trend and what danger asexual people pose to other people exploring their sexuality since, you know, it’s such a fad and it’s probably about repression. Oh well.