Aesexuality in fiction

[FriendlyFyre]

I was too late for the thread about asexual pride, which is now apparently locked for some reason, but I wanted to still ask a question to those who may have been in it.

I was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts specifically about asexual characters in fiction, about how they've portrayed asexuality and whether they are more relatable then a character who simply doesn't have a "love interest" or end up in romantic situations.

I'm particularly interested because I'm attempting to write an asexual (Grey-Area Asexual to be exact) character myself, and I feel like it is a good opportunity to talk about how one might show the effect society has on asexual people.

 

[TakerFoxx]

Well, I'm more aromantic than asexual (still has a strong physical attraction to the opposite sex but no actual interest in any sort of romantic/sexual relationship), but I figure it's close enough for me to take a stab at the question.

Now, I understand the the appeal of sex just fine. My libido is quite healthy, so I get why people enjoy it so much. I also get the appeal of a healthy romance. What I don't get is this apparent obsession with sex and romance. I watched everyone in my family get into one bad relationship after another and make themselves miserable My brother broke up and got back with the same crazy girl four times, even though she had gotten him arrested for something he wasn't even present for and her own family was telling him that she was bad news. And when I asked him about it, he just shrugged and said that she was hot. And I just didn't get that. I get why sex is so obsessed over, I don't get why why people kept putting themselves through miserable situations to fine The One, I don't get why people seem surprised when I tell them that I'm just not interested in all that, etc. I actually once found out that a close friend of mine wanted to set me up on a blind date with one of her friends and I had to all but beg her not to. I understand why people want it. I just don't understand why so many seem to need it. And yes, I know everyone's emotional needs are different. This is personal confusion, not condemnation.

So I guess you could portray your character as that: someone who's surrounded by depictions of sex and people having relationships, and is totally bewildered by it all.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Well...you'd have to spell it out that they were asexual, otherwise they are assumed to be straight, just single (or love interest off screen).

Oh, one thing you don't want to do is have someone turn asexual because the love of their life dumped them in high school. Or make a weird alien species be asexual to be alien...or any other human minority to be alien.

 

[Vault101]

most people don't really know what asexual is (I'm kinda fuzzy myself) I couldn't think of any

would sheldon from BBT count? though I think he did do it with Amy at one point? I don't watch the show

 

[Queen Michael]

I'd say that Light Yagami from Death Note is the most famous example of an asexual and aromantic person in fiction.

 

[giles]

would sheldon from BBT count? though I think he did do it with Amy at one point? I don't watch the show

I think he was written as asexual at the start, but of course in our culture everyone has to have a fucking love interest so that part of his character got ruined. That's par for the course, seeing as his "socially inept but with a genius mind" type character has been completely reduced to "haha, look at the funny autist".
I just think that giving him a girlfriend was particularly infuriating, because it plays into the troublesome idea that "asexual" is just repressed sexuality/frigidity which can be cured through the POWER OF LOOOVE or something.

So yeah, OP, try not to write your asexual character that way.

 

[EyeReaper]

You know, this is just speculation on my part, but due to the safe, child-friendly nature of Nintendo, you could easily make a case of Mario being Asexual.

Think about it, he does have a girlfriend, but he just wants to hang out. Their ideal date seems to be playing doubles in tennis then going back to the castle and sharing a slice of cake. He risks life and limb to save her from a Dragon-turtle and his endless armies, but has he ever once shown any hint of sexual interest over the many many years and games? nope. Or maybe he's just a lowly plumber trying to marry into royalty.

also, Spongebob.

 

[Shymer]

I was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts specifically about asexual characters in fiction, about how they've portrayed asexuality and whether they are more relatable then a character who simply doesn't have a "love interest" or end up in romantic situations.

I'm particularly interested because I'm attempting to write an asexual (Grey-Area Asexual to be exact) character myself, and I feel like it is a good opportunity to talk about how one might show the effect society has on asexual people.

Love and sexual attraction is common in fiction for two main reasons. Firstly, sex and romance are common human experiences. A broad range of people can relate to these situations. Secondly, it is an inherently dramatic situation with the essential question being "Will they? Won't they?". .

The narrative problem with asexuality is that it is not a common human experience (Estimated 1% of British population, for example) and it does not inherently raise a dramatic question. If a character who has no interest in sexual activity is constantly placed, for story reasons, in situations which ask the question "Will they?", the answer is inevitably going to be "No." This does not mean that it isn't reasonable material to use for a story - only that you are going to have to work much harder for a general audience to relate to the character - and for the character's asexuality to be examined in an interesting and dramatic way.

From a story perspective - what is the difference between a character that is asexual and a character who isn't, if situations involving relationships never crop up? If you want to highlight a character's asexuality, then you need to place the character in situations where sex is 'on the cards', and then you show the asexual point of view. I can imagine this from the POV of a sexual character (relatable to the majority) who is attracted to an asexual one, only to be rebuffed (unexpected, dramatic), or confused, when they look for physical affection.

I think it's a difficult thing to write about well. I wish you all the best.

 

[PapaGreg096]

Luffy from One Piece is a great example of an asexual character, being only attracted to meat and adventure

 

[FriendlyFyre]

Well...you'd have to spell it out that they were asexual, otherwise they are assumed to be straight, just single (or love interest off screen).

Oh, one thing you don't want to do is have someone turn asexual because the love of their life dumped them in high school. Or make a weird alien species be asexual to be alien...or any other human minority to be alien.

I'm well aware of the problematic nature of someone "turning asexual," that's why I'm having the character identify early on. Specifically, they've felt this lack of interest in sex for most of their lives and finally come to identify as grey-area asexual when they realize the identification expresses them best.



One other question I have is about the nature of attraction. The thread mentioned the different types of attraction that weren't simply sexual, and so I decided that the attraction she (my character) HAS experienced would be of the hetero or homoromantic type. This would seem to conflict with the idea of asexuals not experiencing attraction, but I'm interested in displaying a wider spectrum of sexualities then what our mainstream culture typically acknowledges. As a Grey-Area asexual, do you think that this identity is probable, or overly specific?

I'd say that Light Yagami from Death Note is the most famous example of an asexual and aromantic person in fiction.

You know, I'd never thought about that before, but I think you're right. It's kind of played for laughs at Misa's expense though...


A book I was just reading recently contained a main character who was actual part of an A.I. hive mind and expressed no real sexual interest, though some fondness for certain characters. It made me wonder if asexuality is only an identification that human can use. They also came from a culture that doesn't specify gender, which complicates the question even more I suppose.

 

[DementedSheep]

The defining rule of character personality traits is conservation of detail-- if the trait doesn't have an impact on the story or character _development_, don't bother writing it in. Ideally you should only put story-relevant things on the page at all.

So look at the shape of your overall story, and figure out how the plot changes between having the character trait and not having it. This tells you whether you should bother at all (the answer in this case is probably "no", frankly, there's a reason why most characters don't have their love life detailed 'on screen' at all) and how important you should actually treat it in your writing (unless you're writing a romance, which... seems unlikely, given everything, the answer is again "not very").

As the other guy pointed out, if "this guy doesn't care much about sex" IS your plot, you should probably just junk the story entirely because that's boring as all hell. There has to be an actual significant conflict, usually in the form of an obstacle between the character and a goal... not having a goal is going to tend to make it not a story.

What? having character traits only to serve the plot makes for incredibly shallow characters. Just listing traits in the story is bad but you can have ones that crop up in various scenes but aren't central to anything. It makes them more believable and interesting.

 

[Jack Action]

Well...you'd have to spell it out that they were asexual, otherwise they are assumed to be straight, just single (or love interest off screen).

Oh, one thing you don't want to do is have someone turn asexual because the love of their life dumped them in high school. Or make a weird alien species be asexual to be alien...or any other human minority to be alien.

Thing is though, you can't really avoid making aliens have rare human traits, unless you're HP Lovecraft. I mean even the 'DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR' berserker aliens are technically a human minority.

That said, an intelligent species that reproduces asexually would be fascinating, honestly, mostly because they'd have to find a way around not being basically a species of clones.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Well...you'd have to spell it out that they were asexual, otherwise they are assumed to be straight, just single (or love interest off screen).

Oh, one thing you don't want to do is have someone turn asexual because the love of their life dumped them in high school. Or make a weird alien species be asexual to be alien...or any other human minority to be alien.

Thing is though, you can't really avoid making aliens have rare human traits, unless you're HP Lovecraft. I mean even the 'DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR' berserker aliens are technically a human minority.

Sure, but it doesn't have to be used to ensure their alienness.

And "death before dishonour" types are a minority only in the same way that people with green eyes are.

 

[Erttheking]

I was too late for the thread about asexual pride, which is now apparently locked for some reason, but I wanted to still ask a question to those who may have been in it.

I was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts specifically about asexual characters in fiction, about how they've portrayed asexuality and whether they are more relatable then a character who simply doesn't have a "love interest" or end up in romantic situations.

I'm particularly interested because I'm attempting to write an asexual (Grey-Area Asexual to be exact) character myself, and I feel like it is a good opportunity to talk about how one might show the effect society has on asexual people.

It's locked because of all the people saying that asexuals A. Didn't exist B. Were special snowflakes looking for attention or C. Had some kind of dangerous mental disorder that would affect the population. I do not blame the OP of the thread for locking it.

Well Pillars of the Earth had a rather interesting asexual character, a monk. I recall the author even writing "I got sick of the tortured sexually repressed religious man archetype, so I decided to write a character who was happily chaste" Heck, I myself have been writing a character who is heavily based on him, a holy man who is happily asexual. Granted I think I fucked it up a bit by saying that he initially did have interest in sex, but his sex drive died after he was chaste for decades (I think I'm gonna have to look up if that can actually happen), but I'm trying to put that behind me by him just acting asexual.

Also I think Varys from Game of Thrones is considered asexual, as is Agent 47 from Hitman.

 

[Spider RedNight]

would sheldon from BBT count? though I think he did do it with Amy at one point? I don't watch the show

I think he was written as asexual at the start, but of course in our culture everyone has to have a fucking love interest so that part of his character got ruined. That's par for the course, seeing as his "socially inept but with a genius mind" type character has been completely reduced to "haha, look at the funny autist".
I just think that giving him a girlfriend was particularly infuriating, because it plays into the troublesome idea that "asexual" is just repressed sexuality/frigidity which can be cured through the POWER OF LOOOVE or something.

So yeah, OP, try not to write your asexual character that way.

I thought I was the only one that felt that way about Sheldon's character interpretation going south xD Nice to know I'm not the only one.

OT: I agree with the above; it'd be difficult to know they're asexual without it being outright stated at one point or another because of issued mentioned such as "straight until proven otherwise" or "just haven't found the right one yet". Perhaps it might be an idea to actually write in a "love interest" for her that she WOULD feel, she just doesn't? I'm asexual and I do form strong bonds with people, they just aren't romantic or sexual at all but I could probably see myself WITH someone if I cared, had interest or felt anything in that sort of thing.

(Also this is a problem I'm having with the whole "Is Daryl from Walking Dead gay because he's not with a girl yet?" debate. Ummm is there something wrong with him just not being interested?)

 

[Jack Action]

Sure, but it doesn't have to be used to ensure their alienness.

And "death before dishonour" types are a minority only in the same way that people with green eyes are.

Well... they are, though. Green is the rarest eye color on Earth afaik. Only occurs naturally in people of Afghan and Caucasian descent.

Always wondered how it ended up in Ireland, actually, let alone how green eyes and red hair ended up so widespread there.

But yeah, I see your point, it would be kinda weird to define an alien species solely by the eye color. Planet of the hats and all that. It's boring, even if no one finds it offensive.

On the flipside, a complex, naturally asexual species CAN be interesting solely based on that assuming the author has two braincells to rub together. It would impact everything about the species, from their society and individual behavior to their homeworld (available resources, basic chemical structure, wildlife in general).

 

[Flames66]

The defining rule of character personality traits is conservation of detail-- if the trait doesn't have an impact on the story or character _development_, don't bother writing it in. Ideally you should only put story-relevant things on the page at all.

What? having character traits only to serve the plot makes for incredibly shallow characters. Just listing traits in the story is bad but you can have ones that crop up in various scenes but aren't central to anything. It makes them more believable and interesting.

I agree with you there. Never mentioning character traits that are not directly relevant to the story makes uninteresting, interchangeable characters and should be avoided in all but the most unimportant background actors. A sense of mystery can also be useful though. Don't always directly state their traits. The way a character dresses, deals with situations and interacts with people and the world should all hint at their underlying traits.

It's locked because of all the people saying that asexuals A. Didn't exist B. Were special snowflakes looking for attention or C. Had some kind of dangerous mental disorder that would affect the population. I do not blame the OP of the thread for locking it.

An unfortunate end to an interesting conversation. I am definitely not asexual, but I'm starting to think I might be aromantic. I have no interest in "the dating game" and don't care for outward displays of affection.

Also I think Varys from Game of Thrones is considered asexual, as is Agent 47 from Hitman.

I really liked how Agent 47 was portrayed in the film !!Spoilers!!. When he was approached by the woman in the bar he was clearly uncomfortable and removed himself from the situation in an awkward but swift manner. It's very much how I handle similar situations.

 

[xPixelatedx]

It's simple, just don't make them interested in sex/relations? lol really it's that easy. There doesn't ahve to be any special explanation for it, and the character doesn't have to act weird... just don't have them focus on grabbing a girl/guy!

Luffy from One Piece is a great example of an asexual character, being only attracted to meat and adventure

So much so he even negated a superpower that was specially supposed to attract onlookers.

 

[Erttheking]

Snip

A film adaptation of a game doing something right? Well I guess even a broken clock is right sometimes.