Aromanticism & Asexuality Research Network

New Dimensions, New Directions: Asexualities and Aromanticism in the 21st Century - Megan Carroll, Maya Wenzel, 2025 This article offers an overview of the state of the field for asexualities and aromanticism and suggests new directions for research. Our goal is to inspire fem...

Want to avoid reinforcing compulsory sexuality in your research? Catch up on asexualities and aromanticism research with Megan Carroll and Maya Wenzel in the newest ASA journal, Sex & Sexualities. #asexual

@mcsociology.bsky.social @acefeministmaya.bsky.social

journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

I have also formerly worked on the Hellenistic boy muse in German literature (in particular that of Thomas Mann), where the question of ‘asexual’ erotic contemplation of the body is a central theme of my work.”

I am working on Aubrey Beardsley and his erotic novel The Story of Venus and Tannhäuser, which I am arguing contains a strong element of asexuality that underscores Decadent, orgiastic scenes.

I also think that research into aro-ace sexuality has an ethical imperative, given how little visibility it has in culture more generally, and the presence of aphobia.

“I joined the research network as I am very interested in asexuality/aromanticism as a theme in literature (especially in late Victorian/Edwardian literature, which is my period of research), especially where it clashes with other (seemingly) incompatible themes, such as sexual violence or virility.

Introducing: T.N. Hutchinson

T.N. Hutchinson is a PhD researcher in Literary Studies at the University of York. They work on decadence studies, aestheticism, and Victorian/Edwardian literature.

The Diversity Reading List in Philosophy also has great general philosophy resources - go check them out!

@diversityread.bsky.social is an amazing project dedicated to diversifying and decolonising the philosophical canon.

And there is a lot of writing on aro/ace topics in other disciplines that engages with philosophical questions. Check them out in our resource list:

www.aroaceresearch.com/resources

Not many philosophical texts engage with asexuality & aromanticism, but here are some philosophical publications by @lukebrunning.bsky.social and @nmckeever3.bsky.social:

#philosophy #worldphilosophyday #asexuality #aromanticism #love #sexuality #relationships
@triphilosophy.bsky.social

On World Philosophy Day, looking at the world through an ace and aro lens encourages us to rethink some of our most basic assumptions about love, identity, and the political structures that shape our lives.

3. Rethinking Social Norms

Aspec perspectives highlight how deeply our society is shaped by compulsory sexuality and amatonormativity.
This harms aspec and allo people alike, and taking aspec experiences seriously means fewer people are left out or pressured to conform to these norms.

2. Understanding Lived Experience

The aro/ace spectrum opens up questions about the lived experience of sexuality and identity:

• What is it like to not
experience sexual or romantic attraction? What does this tell us about these experiences?
• How is sexual orientation and identity constructed?

1. The Nature of Love, Sex, and Relationships

Aspec perspectives challenge assumptions about what love is, and how attraction, desire, and platonic and romantic relationships differ.

Including these perspectives exposes gaps in our theories and gives us a better understanding of these concepts.

Today is World Philosophy Day!
🧡💛🤍🩵💙

Here is why philosophers should care about the asexual and aromantic spectrum (aspec) 👇

I'm excited to be part of an interdisciplinary network dedicated to explore and grow this field."

Asexuality and aromanticism force us to confront and re-examine concepts like attraction, desire, romance, identity, and belonging in really complex and interesting ways that I believe can yield valuable insights into both our past and our present.

„As a Victorianist, I am interested in socio-cultural histories of gender, particularly their conception and construction in the nineteenth century, and their legacies.

Introducing: Dr Helena Esser

@helenaesser.bsky.social is an Independent Scholar in Germany. Her area of research is Victorian and neo-Victorian gender and popular culture, with specific publications on steampunk and Ouida.

She joins the aro/ace research group as she is keen and excited to meet more researchers working on asexuality - a topic so often overlooked!

Introducing: Claudia Sterbini

@claudiasterbini.bsky.social is a PhD Researcher at the University of Edinburgh, working on the construction of stigmas of asexuality in nineteenth-century sexology and literature.

I am currently working on an article on asexual domesticities and I am interested in how aspec individuals navigate structures and institutions meant for allosexual and/or reproductive family units across a variety of cultural and linguistic contexts.“

„The aro/ace research network represents a wonderful opportunity for me as a (possibly!) early career academic to get in touch with fellow researchers in aroace topics and to feel like I’m part of an organized effort to get aroace research firmly in the academic record.

Introducing: Wenmei Bai

Wenmei Bai is an Independent Researcher in Geography working on queer geographies, asexual domesticities, and queer/asexual futurities. She is part of the network organising team and will help with the newsletter & communication!

You can find their individual contacts on our members page www.aroaceresearch.com/members if you have specific questions, and general inquiries can go to aroaceresearch@gmail.com.

The Aro/Ace Research Network has a new organising team! Thanks everyone for volunteering and we‘re looking forward to see what we can achieve together - many exciting plans to come!

The plan is to weave this ace/queer history together with interviews with contemporary creatives and personal experiences of unsexy art.“

Profiles of creative figures such as Jane Austen, Frédéric Chopin, Langston Hughes, and Marilyn Monroe will challenge ideas from evolutionary science, Freudian psychology, and other spiritual and social contexts about the inherently sexual or romantic nature of art-making and artists themselves.

The goal is to present an alternative history of writers and artists whose apparent lack of sexual or romantic desire has often puzzled biographers and skewed wider perceptions of their artistic practice.

I’m in the very early stages of planning a trade nonfiction book with the working title, Make Art Not Love: An Unsexy History of Creative Desire.