‘Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex’ by Angela Chen, published by Beacon Press
Best: Overall
Rating: 10/10
This thoughtful, explosive and essential book by Angela Chen offers an overdue insight into the multiple experiences and challenges faced by asexual people in a world that often struggles to recognise their very existence.
Journalist Chen takes a rigorous approach to her subject, interviewing hundreds of people who fall under the ace spectrum. Critiquing the centrality of sex in western society, Chen rightly notes that “true sexual liberation means having many choices – no sex forever, sex three times a day, and everything in-between – that all feel equally available and accepted.” Her observations on what she describes as the conspicuous consumption of sex as a way to perform feminist/radical politics is thought-provoking, while her dissection of social norms and how these can inhibit sex and relationships is both expansive and inclusive.
It’s not uncommon for ace activism to be considered a joke, but Chen rightly notes that it can be devastating and isolating for those who aren’t aware that this is what they are. Asexual people, like many others under the LGBT+ umbrella, also face their identities being medicalised and treated as a problem to be fixed, further reinforcing the importance of solidarity among all people under the rainbow banner.
Rather than associating asexuality with conservatism, a frequently misguided presumption, Chen states that ace activists “want to expand the potential for what pleasure can look like”. This excellent book successfully challenges many of society’s entrenched ideas around sex and desire. Reading it should be mandatory for all.