S2 E10, On Compulsory Sexuality

S2, E 10: On Compulsory Sexuality

In this episode, we are going to turn our attention to the social system of compulsory sexuality that mandates that we must experience sexual attraction and the desire for sexual activity. Compulsory sexuality is a set of both assumptions and demands that impact all people, regardless of how they define their relationship to sexuality. We will also begin to discuss asexuality, or the experience of feeling little or no sexual attraction to another person. There are a good deal of misunderstandings about asexuality, and the next two episodes will focus on defining and clarifying an identification with asexuality.

SHOW NOTES

The following texts discuss compulsory sexuality as well as asexuality. They are excellent texts for early reading on the subject.

Ace: What Asexuality Reveals about Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex (Angela Chen): https://www.amazon.com/Ace-Asexuality-Reveals-Identity-Meaning/dp/080701379X

Acing Science: Compulsory Sexuality and Asexual Possibilities (Kristina Gupta): https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295754260/acing-science

Refusing Compulsory Sexuality: A Black Asexual Lens on Our Sex-Obsessed Culture (Sherronda J. Brown): https://www.amazon.com/Refusing-Compulsory-Sexuality-Asexual-Sex-Obsessed/dp/1623177103

Asexual Erotics: Intimate Readings of Compulsory Sexuality (Ella Przbylo) https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/24390 (this is open source)