Jump to content

User:Mek-laa-ni/sandbox

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The portrayals of asexuality in the media reflect societal attitudes towards asexuality. Throughout history, asexual characters have appeared in television series, animated series, literature, comics, video games, music, and film.

Asexual representation in the media is limited and rarely openly acknowledged or confirmed by creators or authors.[1] Representation for asexual people in fiction has been mixed, with strong prejudice against asexuals, asexual erasure, and few asexual characters in media.[2][3][4]

History

[edit]

Asexuality as an identity term is a recent invention, commonly agreed to have entered currency in the early 2000s,[5] but various representations of non-sexualities that can be interpreted to resemble modern ideas of asexuality have existed throughout history. Reading historical texts for traces of asexuality has been termed looking for 'resonances'.[6] Looking for such resonances often requires conflating asexuality with aromanticism.[6]

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle intentionally portrayed his character Sherlock Holmes as what would today be classified as asexual.[7]

In works composed prior to the beginning of the twenty-first century, characters are generally automatically assumed to be allosexual[8] and the existence of a character's sexuality is usually never questioned.[8] Among characters who have been interpreted as aromantic and/or asexual are several mythological characters, including, but not limited to, the Greek goddesses Hestia, Athena,[9] and Artemis,[10]. In Arthurian legend Galahad, especially in Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur has been read as asexual,[11] and from Strengleikar, the boy in Tveggja elskanda ljóð, Janual in Januals ljóð, and Guiamar in Guiamars ljóð have been read as initially asexual, but changed by the narrative to a more acceptable (re)productive sexuality.[12]

Among literary characters with resonances are Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, who Doyle wrote as what might today be interpreted as asexual, with the intention to characterize him as solely driven by intellect and immune to desires of the flesh.[7] Sue Bridehead in Thomas Hardy's 1895 novel, Jude the Obscure is portrayed as having an active aversion to sex and is considered by some to be an asexual character.[13]

Some authors themselves have been read as writing with asexual resonances,

Some researchers have found asexual resonances in the writings of 17th-century French poet Catherine Bernard.[14]


See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Kelemen, Erick (2007). "Asexuality". In Fedwa Malti-Douglas (ed.). Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender. Vol. 1. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA. p. 103. Retrieved May 2, 2016 – via Archive.org.
  2. ^ Kate, Lyons (September 1, 2012). "Prejudice Against "Group X" (Asexuals)". Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers, LLC. Archived from the original on December 30, 2019. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  3. ^ Jankowski, Laura (February 27, 2015). "Too Niche". Jim C. Hines. Archived from the original on June 21, 2020. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
  4. ^ Jankowski, Laura (February 28, 2019). "Asexual Representation in Mainstream Speculative Fiction". Book Smugglers. Archived from the original on February 28, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
  5. ^ Ghaleb, Sara (March 26, 2018). "Asexuality is still hugely misunderstood. TV is slowly changing that". Vox (website). Archived from the original on March 26, 2018. Retrieved September 18, 2024.
  6. ^ a b Cooper, Danielle (June 1, 2014). "Asexual Resonances: Tracing a Queerly Asexual Archive". Duke University Press. Retrieved September 18, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ a b Bogaert, Anthony (2012). Understanding Asexuality. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc. pp. 36–39. ISBN 978-1-4422-0099-9.
  8. ^ a b Jackson, Stevi; Scott, Sue (2010). Theorizing Sexuality. Maidenhead: Open UP.
  9. ^ Fedelm, Siobhan (May 30, 2017). "Queer Folklore: Athena and Hestia Bring the Asexuality to Olympus". Autostraddle. Archived from the original on July 11, 2017. Retrieved September 19, 2024.
  10. ^ Waters, Laura G. (2017). ""Artemis: Depictions of Form and Femininity in Sculpture"". cupola.gettysburg.edu. The Cupola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College. Archived from the original on January 9, 2019. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  11. ^ Arkenberg, Megan (2014). "'A Mayde, and Last of Youre Blood': Galahad's Asexuality and its Significance in "Le Morte Darthur"". Arthuriana. 24 (3). Scriptorium Press: 3–22. Archived from the original on March 11, 2023. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  12. ^ Martino, Paul (September 3, 2018). "Queering Medieval Translatio: Translation, Transformation, and Travel in the Strengleikar". Archived from the original on December 6, 2021. Retrieved October 10, 2024.
  13. ^ Krieger, Elliot (January 11, 2016). "Sue Bridhead's asexuality in Jude the Obscure". Elliot's Reading. Archived from the original on June 23, 2020. Retrieved June 23, 2020. Elliot is a former reporter-editor at the Providence Journal.
  14. ^ Waters, Michael (March 6, 2020). "Asexuality Is Often Dismissed as an "Internet Identity." But in Reality, "Aces" Existed Well Before They Could Log On". Slate Magazine. Retrieved May 11, 2023.

Further reading

[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Mek-laa-ni/sandbox&oldid=1249593091"