A Negative #3: On Misconceptions And Visibility
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- Category: A Negative
- Published on Thursday, 10 November 2011 14:49
- Written by T. Henrik Anttonen
- Hits: 973
I think we’re at the point where we can honestly just ask: What’s so damn hard about this?
By far, the biggest misconception about Asexuality is that a lot of people refuse to accept the reality of it. They think it’s something completely made up, a defense mechanism of some kind. Or at worst something that needs to be fixed. It is actually kind of mind boggling how often it is hard for people to accept Asexuality even if they’re completely accepting of homosexuality. Why is not wanting to have anything to do with sex such a huge leap for some people?
The most saddening aspect of this is that some of the biggest doubters and haters actually come from the LGBT community. Surely the people who have been the subjects of ridicule and oppression about their own orientation would be the most open-minded about the incredible variety of the human experience. But no, the most hateful suggestions of “corrective rape” or other less than consensual activities usually come from representatives of those communities. The bullied become the bullies, which unfortunately is a very common pattern.
The most egregious example is someone like Dan Savage who first receive huge accolades battling the small minded spite against homosexuals and then continues to receive the same accolades by spitting out the exact same against Asexuals.
Which brings us to the topic of sexologists. And since what I have to say consists mostly of profanity, I will discreetly censor it.
[Insert some ridiculously upbeat music of your choosing here______].
I mean, come on! It’s like astrophysicists unanimously decided that they are going to ignore the entire field of quantum mechanics just because it doesn't fit their tidy little view of the universe. If you’re really so ignorant about the field you’re in, you really should change careers, fast!
But what can we do about this as a community? What is the thing we need the most? Three things: Visibility, visibility, visibility. Oh wait! It’s actually four things: Forgot one ‘visibility’ there.
I know it’s an old tune, but simply is the only path. The best way to battle ignorance is to bring out the facts and make people see that we’re not just making this stuff up as we go along. That there are so many of us that can’t be just a statistical anomaly comprised of people who filled the proverbial form wrong. Homosexuals didn't start to make significant progress in their rights until they came out in force. I’m not saying we should do what they did, but there’s no denying the power of forcing an issue when that is what needs to be done.
To accomplish this, we need a stronger community identity we can anchor our efforts to. And I do honestly feel that we’re developing it pretty quickly, but our coordinated efforts are still at an infant stage. We’re trying our best, but it’ll take time, just as it should. You can’t force culture to form artificially. You have to let it develop naturally. So it will take time, but I'm not worried. It took the LGBT community centuries to reach the point it is today. We’re just beginning our journey. It will be way faster because of the establishment of the global village, but it won’t be instantaneous.
Ultimately, we need to put our foot down as a community and let the world know that we won’t take the ignorance any longer! We need to tell the haters to shove their heads where we won’t shove absolutely anything at all.
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We really are growing awareness exponentially. It will prolly take a couple generations to become totally accepted, but that's a relatively short period of time for a paradigm shift. FIGHT ON PONY!