Artifacts

All artifacts

Asexual Protagonists: What Their Patterns Reveal About the Representation of Asexuality

An essay discussing the need for a more BIPOC and gender-inclusive representation of asexuality in fiction literature

2021

“Asexuality BC (Before Cake)”

A personal recounting of early asexual history by an early AVEN member

2017

“The Evolution of Online Asexual Discourse”

An academic dissertation on asexual history and online asexual discourse from the late 1990s to the early 2010s

“A thought: ‘WTFromantic’”

The term “quoiromantic” is coined in a blog post

2012

Nat Titman’s talk at WorldPride Asexual Conference

A talk at WorldPride Asexual Conference 2012 on early asexual history

2012

“A history of asexuality”

A timeline of asexual history, with a major focus on early online asexual communities

2011

“Word of the Day: Queerplatonic”

The term “queerplatonic” is first introduced on Tumblr by its coiner

2011

“Writhing in the Throes of Unrequited Like”

The term “WTFromantic” is coined in a blog post

2011

“A/romanticism”

The terms “queerplatonic” and “zucchini” are coined in the comments of a blog post on aromanticism

2010

Introduction of the asexual pride flag

The asexual pride flag is proposed, designed, voted on, and decided on across a series of AVEN forum threads.

2009–2010

“*SQUISH!*”

The term “squish” is coined in an AVEN forum thread

2007

“Asexual sex”

The term “demisexual” is coined in an AVEN forum thread

2006

“Gray-A’s”

The term “gray-asexual” is coined in an AVEN forum thread

2006

“Toby: An Asexual Person”

An excerpt from a textbook describing a neuter person

2006

The short instructional manifesto for relationship anarchy

A pamphlet which first introduced the concept of relationship anarchy

2006

David Jay on The View

David Jay, founder of AVEN, is interviewed on ABC’s The View

2006

David Jay on Tucker

David Jay, founder of AVEN, is interviewed on MSNBC’s Tucker

2006

“Black rings and other ways to show asexual pride”

The tradition of asexuals wearing a black ring is introduced in an AVEN forum thread

2005

“For Them, Just Saying No Is Easy”

An article in the New York Times about asexuality

2005

“Glad to be asexual”

An in-depth article on asexuality published in New Scientist where the author meets David Jay.

“No sex please, we’re asexual”

An article in The Guardian about asexuality which mentions AVEN and quotes asexual people

2004

“Study: One in 100 adults asexual”

An article by CNN about asexuality which mentions Anthony Bogaert’s study

2004

“Questions Asked by Asexual and Questioning People”

An early version of the AVEN FAQ, written by Nat Titman

2003

“Semisexuality”

An early discussion about aspec identities between allosexual and asexual

2003

The Official Nonlibidoism Society

A website dedicated to people with no libido

2003

“Nonsexuality Rant”

A blog post from the eaarly web where the author complains about people invalidating their asexuality

2002

“The Fourth Sexuality”

A blog post where the author identifies as nonsexual and talks about the invalidation they face

2002

Asexuality LiveJournal

An asexual LiveJournal community, which was one of the first sex-positive asexual discussion forums

2002

asexuality.net

A website from the early web dedicated to asexuality.

2002

Coining of the term “aromantic”

The term “aromantic” is used for the first time in an asexual message board

2002

“I Am Not a Freak!!!!”

A nonsexual person dispels some myths about their nonsexuality

2001

TNGirlTech’s Asexualism Page

A pre-AVEN FAQ page on asexuality

2001

Haven for the Human Amoeba

The first major online community for asexuals

2000–2019

Leather Spinsters: Asexuality

A page on the website for the Leather Spinsters dedicated to their asexual members

1998

RU.Antisex

A website from the early web which takes a moral and ethical stance against sexuality

1998

“My life as an amoeba”

A blog post about coming out as asexual

1997

The Asexual Coalition

A site that defines asexuality as abstaining from romantic and sexual relationships

1997

Asexuality on Dear Abby

The term “asexual” is used in a response to a Dear Abby letter

Toby on Sally

Toby (Jim Sinclair) being interviewed on the talk show Sally

1989

Jim Sinclair’s Articles About Intersexuality

A page on Jim Sinclair’s personal blog dedicated to intersexuality

1987–1999

“Happy Celibates Want No Change”

An asexual Dear Abby letter writer responds to a statement Abby made about abstinence

“Sexual Orientation and Self-Perception”

A study that reimagines the Kinsey Scale as a two-dimensional spectrum that accounts for asexuality

“Asexual and Autoerotic Women: Two Invisible Groups”

One of the first academic papers on asexuality

1977

Asexual Research Bibliography

A comprehensive bibliography of academic research on asexuality

1977–2022

William Burroughs interviews David Bowie

An interview with David Bowie in which he talks about asexuality

1974

“Choose Your Label” Barnard College

A photo of activists at Barnard College inviting people to choose their own label

1973

Off Our Backs, vol. 3, no. 5

An issue of a feminist news journal that mentions asexuality

1973

The Asexual Manifesto

A paper by the Asexual Caucus of the New York Radical Feminists

Sexualpathologie

An early example of pathologization of asexual people in medical literature and use of the term “asexual”

Ein Weib?

An early academic paper on queer identities where the author self-identities as asexual

1897

Sappho und Sokrates

A formative academic work in legitimizing queer identities which recognizes asexual people

Psychopathia Sexualis

The first use of the term “anesthesia sexual” to refer to asexual people

Kertbeny’s pamphlets protesting Prussian sodomy laws

Pamphlets protesting Prussian sodomy laws which coined the terms “homosexual” and “heterosexual”