Petition to add Asexual, Pansexual to Facebook and other social networking sites resurfaces
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- Category: News
- Published on Tuesday, 29 March 2011 19:15
- Written by Lara Landis
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A petition to ask Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites to add Asexual and Pansexual to their orientation list is circulating once more. Currently, Facebook does let users select male, female, both or neither in their profile.
Asexuals, Pansexuals and Bisexuals all face erasure and invisibility. Allowing Bisexuals and Pansexuals the ability to pass for straight while in a heterosexual relationship is a point of contention. When Asexuals express their true orientation, other people meet the pronouncement with disbelief or probing questions.
“Maybe emailing people directly might be more effective - if, and this is a big if, we can find people to email who are both (a) influential and (b) are not already totally swamped, as far as their inbox goes,” said Michaeld, a member of the Asexuality Visibility and Education Network's project team.
Neither e-mails nor petitions have succeeded in changing the social network. At the moment, Fetlife, a social networking site for fetishists is the only site to include Asexual as an option. Asexual dating sites assume their users fall into this category, although they may include categories for Demisexuals and gray Asexuals.
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I believe it would be helpful to add asexual to lists of sexual orientations on social networking sites. It's unfair to us asexuals to force us to lie about our sexual orientation.
Men and women release certain hormones that attract the OPPOSITE sex. Our bodies are made like puzzle pieces that fit together. Obviously the LGBT community has faced neglect through the eyes of religious people who have approached it with their beliefs, but maybe a more scientific approach will help? Men were biologically made for women, and women for men. You can talk about your feelings of being misunderstood and being "in love" with someone of the same sex, or perhaps wishing you were part of the opposite sex altogether - however, it's not just a matter of religion. It's a matter of nature. Also... I've always wondered... if lesbians aren't attracted to men, then why the use of dildos? And why do men like anal sex with other men, when women can offer the same pleasure? It's all very confusing and a little attention-seeking.