Outside my usual schtick but still very much a delight: I was invited to be on Where’s My Jetpack?! and did a lengthy interview about queer media, my favorite show Steven Universe, and the importance of representation.
Pride #1: Steven Universe With Guest Ivy Decker
I’m doing a live YouTube event today to celebrate Asexual Awareness Week. I’ll be kicking it off with some thoughts I have on asexuality-related nonfiction.
Subscribers and interested parties can chime in live in the attached chat, and if appropriate, I will address whatever they’d like to talk about. The video will be available to rewatch if you miss the event.
You can tune in on my YouTube Channel: An Ace Evening with Swankivy 2020!
I was invited to read ACE: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex early and provide a blurb. Please check this book out if you are interested in adding an important new title to your ace and aro library.
Book info:
Title: ACE: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex
Author: Angela Chen
ISBN:978-0807013793
Publisher: Beacon Press
Release Date: September 15, 2020
My blurb:
Accessible and eloquently written, Ace sensitively and accurately spotlights an interconnected series of outsider experiences. Few asexual-spectrum narratives so authentically and diversely capture the truths, the quirks, the tragedies, and the triumphs of our lives without alienating non-ace readers or appealing only to one subset of the ace population. Ace creates an inclusive tapestry of validating and eye-opening narratives that will give some readers an experience they may have never had before: seeing our “anomalous” perspectives and emotions given the sensitive examination and validation we’ve always been denied.
I’m doing a live YouTube event (my first time!) to celebrate Asexual Awareness Week. I’ll just be sitting down to an evening with my webcam and I’ll start by sharing some discussions of how media handles asexuality, good or bad.
Subscribers and interested parties can chime in live in the attached chat, and if appropriate, I will address whatever they’d like to talk about. It’s a chance to talk to a pretty seasoned ace activist about subjects that might not be covered all that commonly, but it’s also fine if the talks devolve a little into other things. I’ll try to keep it mostly on topic but there’s no telling what will happen.
You can sign up for a reminder and tune in 8 PM Eastern on Friday, October 25. The finished video will appear here when the event is over.
The Invisible Orientation is now available in a Japanese translation.
This is a translation of the original material and is still a Western conception of the culture and concepts of asexuality. Its content has not been localized.
But it is available in bookstores and through its Japanese Amazon page.
My sister, whose husband is from Japan and has relatives there, recently found the book in a bookstore and bought a copy. Here it is in the wild, with photos from her Instagram. 🙂
I was honored to be one of the guest authors (and the only author appearing by Skype!) at this spring’s “Unthinking Sex, Imagining Asexuality” book celebration at Little Sister’s Book and Art Emporium.
With other ace-spectrum authors Angela Chen, Lauren Jankowski, and Ela Przybylo, I discussed my book, its publication, its impact, and publishing in general.
Unfortunately my Skype connection was one of the worst I’ve had and I could not hear the other authors reliably. I couldn’t tell what they were saying enough of the time to really feel involved in the conversation, but sometimes I did get to hear a string of discussion that didn’t get interrupted, and it was a blast. I really wish I had been there in person, but I guess that’s what I get for trying to “appear” in another country an entire continent away, huh? My appearance ended abruptly when my connection shattered for good.
It is SO wonderful to know that asexuality and aromanticism are subjects of enough interest that we have MULTIPLE authors writing from MULTIPLE perspectives about MULTIPLE experiences of our orientations, and even more people out there wanting our words. It is so mind-blowing to remember that ten years ago the idea of an asexual or aromantic authors’ panel would have been a fantasy.
Now it’s a reality.
For anyone who might be interested, I’ll be appearing through Skype at an event called “Unthinking Sex, Imagining Asexuality” as one member of a book panel at Little Sister’s Book and Art Emporium, April 27, 2019, 7:30 PM Pacific Standard Time. This is in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
It was not practical for me to make the trip this year, so I’ll only be there virtually, discussing my book in the distinguished company of other asexuality authors Ela Przybylo, Lauren Jankowski, and Angel Chen.
My book will be available for purchase during and after the event.
As mentioned during the planning stages, I spoke at Wellesley College on October 14, 2018. I had an excellent time being hosted by the Wellesley Wildcards, who showed me incredible hospitality and made me feel very welcome through an overnight stay, a presentation, a lunch and dinner, and a hangout with the students.
Here is a video of my presentation.
It’s been a while since I’ve accepted an invitation for a speaking opportunity, but I’m particularly excited about this upcoming talk!
I have been invited to Wellesley College later this month and will be giving a presentation/lecture entitled “Asexuality and the LGBTQ+ Community: Past, Present, and Future.”
I will discuss asexual- and aromantic-spectrum inclusion in broader LGBTQIA communities, covering a brief history of the asexual movement, ace/aro participation in activist and support spaces, the controversies and benefits associated with ace/aro inclusion, how heteronormativity affects our communities, and the future of ace/aro-friendly activism, education, and media. Plus I will have some social time with Wellesley’s asexual/aromantic organization, the Wellesley Wildcards.
This event is on October 16, 2018, at about 4:30 on a Tuesday.
My talk will be similar in content to the presentation I gave at University of Minnesota Twin Cities, but I will be attempting to focus more on where we’ve come from, where we are now, and where we want to see ourselves in the future. I hope to record my talk in a similar capacity to share it with my YouTube channel. I’ll bring a couple copies of my book to look at, provide “Asexual Bingo” freebies to take, and hopefully have time to do questions and answers at the end.
BuzzFeed News reached out to me for an asexual perspective on #MeToo, sexual assault, and coercion.
Please read my commentary as well as that of other asexual-spectrum folks: