Happy Ace Week from Scarleteen! To celebrate the last day of this special week, we have compiled a list of resources within and beyond Scarleteen for you and yours:
If you’re new to the wide wonderful world of asexuality (like if you’re wondering if you’re ace, or you know you are, but you’re not sure what that might mean for you personally), we have an amazing primer that can be a great starting point if you’re wanting to become more familiar with asexuality as a framework: Just the Basics, Ace: An Asexuality Primer.
If you already know about the basics of asexuality, or if being ace is already part of your identity, we’ve pulled together a few pieces for you that cover the realm of the, “I’m aspec, now what?” experience:
- Sexuality: WTF Is It, Anyway? can help you decide what sexuality actually means to you (because it’s a lot more than just what you do or don’t do with other people).
- Don’t Want To Have Sex? and Friends Or Lovers? The Complexities Of Queer Love both talk about navigating relationships and boundaries (not just with other people but with ourselves too).
- How To Understand, Identify And Make Choices About Desire is all about breaking down something that gets mentioned all the time when it comes to asexuality (but is rarely explained, for some reason): desire.
One of the main reasons we put these resources together is community. Community matters, especially when you’re ace. Asexuality is an amazing and unique spectrum that can also feel really complicated sometimes, especially in a heteronormative and allosexual society. Being ace in this context can feel isolating, or make us second-guess ourselves. We want aspec folks to remember that you’re not alone! Ace community exists. Our direct services, staffed by our knowledgeable team, are also always here for you if you want or need community, information or support.
Happy Ace Week if you’re celebrating! Remember that you’re awesome and worth celebrating at all times, all year long!
Some great ace resources outside Scarleteen include:
- AVEN (The Asexual Visibility and Education Network): About Sexuality Pagesexternal link, opens in a new tab and the AVEN forumsexternal link, opens in a new tab
- The Ace and Aro Advocacy Projectexternal link, opens in a new tab
- AUREA: Aromantic-Spectrum Union for Recognition, Education, and Advocacyexternal link, opens in a new tab
- Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sexexternal link, opens in a new tab by Angela Chen
- @acedadadviceexternal link, opens in a new tab on Instagram
- And r/asexualityexternal link, opens in a new tab and r/aromanticexternal link, opens in a new tab on Reddit
