Asexual Identity and Online Community
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Cergol, Laura
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Abstract
While asexual people, just like other LGBTQ+ people, have probably been around as long as humans have, the language to describe their experiences has only recently been invented. Asexuality isn’t widely known, and combined with the pressure to conform to expectations about dating and sex and marriage, it often doesn’t occur to people as a possible sexual orientation. Meeting others who identify as asexual offline is unlikely, with estimates putting the prevalence of asexuality in the United States at 1%.
That’s where online communities come in. The internet makes it possible to form and maintain relationships with people far away. Search engines and social network sites also allow us to find information and discussions on just about anything. Unsurprisingly, the internet has facilitated the discovery of asexuality for many people who would otherwise go through life feeling alone or broken. However, both attitudes toward online communities and engagement with them varies.
In this blend of qualitative research and journalism, I interviewed 12 self-identifying asexual people to explore the relationship between online communities and asexual identity development. Using existing research on asexuality and my own experience with the Tumblr asexual community, I identified common themes in the interview data to answer three main questions: What does it mean to identify as asexual? What role do online communities play in identity development for various individuals? And if not everybody engages with these communities in the same way, what are the alternatives that still lead to the development of an asexual identity?
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Keywords
communication, identity, asexuality, lgbt, tumblr, online community, sexual identity, internet