Sex/uality Artifacts

For my artifact I used the television show Sirens which depicts an asexual character. I used the scene where they tell the audience that Voodoo identifies as asexual and her interaction with a man who has a crush on her. I decided to use this as my artifact because we were talking about identities in class and because asexuality is an identity that has often never been heard of or is ignored. This show did a pretty good job of explaining what asexuality is and it shows the difference between sexual attraction and romantic attraction. By having one of the characters do research on asexuality they described the orientation pretty well and addressed some of the common misconceptions.

Asexuality is defined as a lack of sexual attraction. That is the only requirement to belong to the Ace community. This means that someone who identifies as Ace will not look at a person and think “I want to have sex with them”. In one of our readings an “ex-gay” man was talking about having to suppress his attraction to men. An asexual would never feel this kind of attraction in the first place. Many people think that ace individuals do not ever want to have sex (as is the case with the character in the show) but that is not necessarily true. Many ace spectrum people will be in relationships with people who are allosexual (a person who feels sexual attraction) and will have sex while in this relationship. While many ace people will go without having sex not all do.

In Sirens the ace character, Voodoo, and another character, Brian, form a relationship. This brings up the concept we talked about in class where there is a separation between sexual and romantic attraction. Although Voodoo was asexual she was not aromantic and still felt romantic attraction toward Brian. They entered a relationship that was the same as many other couples on the show. They would go out together, they would cuddle on the couch and watch movies, they would do other romantic things, but they would not engage in sexual activities. At one point in the show Brian says “I like you. I think you’re funny, and different, and I never know what you’re gonna say, and obviously I think you’re beautiful, but if we never have sex that’s okay because I’m just happy being around you”. The television show show that the relationship is based on more than just sex and is still a valid relationship to be in.

This artifact fit in well with the class because we were talking about different orientations and identities. This showed an identity that is not often talked about and is not always recognized.