The Language of Asexuality Before AVEN

It's hard to understate how pivotal the Asexual Visibility and Education Network was in shaping the modern asexual community, including much of the language aces use to describe their identity. But what about before AVEN? What did it mean to be asexual? This essay is my attempt at tracing the history of the usage of the term "asexual."

Spoons are Expensive

Being disabled is expensive, but not just because of the state of the US healthcare system. Often money can buy spoons, but all too often the financial decisions made by disabled people who are trying to budget their spoons are condemned by non-disabled people as irresponsible.

The Cultural Model of Gender

Trans folks talk a lot about how we conceptualize gender, but I don't think enough attention is paid to how gender is influenced by the culture we're brought up in. We generally think of gender as an innate identity independent of external factors, but the basic premise of what gender is varies widely between human cultures.

Deconstructing Label Culture

There's a lot of discourse both inside and outside of queer communities about microlabels. To many non-queer people, they represent an epidemic of excessive sensitivity and political correctness, but many queer folks also have misgivings about microlabels. This is my attempt at parsing out the good and bad of label culture.

When Does a Difference Become a Disorder?

The common messaging among neurotypical people is that a disorder is an abnormality, a disease. Most neurodivergent folks, however, perfer to think of their neurodivergence as natural variation of human developemnt. So what is a disorder, and what purpose do disorder labels serve if not to other neurodivergent folks?

Are the Straights Okay?

Casual banter among queer folks complaining about systemic oppression is often interpreted by non-queer people as an attack. This kind of defensiveness is tone-deaf and derails the conversation, but it's indicative of a larger pattern of miscommunication between queer folks and allies who are theoretically on the same side.

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