Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex

by Angela Chen

“People who have never felt sexual attraction do not know what sexual attraction feels like, and knowing whether or not they have ever felt it can be difficult,”

We are not quite right, or not quite worthwhile—made in the shape of a human but with faulty wiring and something lost, something fundamental to the good life.

Exactly how it feels!

Performing sexuality provides access to formative friendships and respect; it can be more social than personal.

Having transgressive sex can be individually powerful, but it rarely changes the greater structure of politics, law, and culture that continues to shame alternative lifestyles and sex (and enforce other forms of regressive norms) for everyone else.

The project of self-knowledge is complicated by both racial stereotypes and our desire not to be controlled by these stereotypes.