{"id":55,"date":"2021-10-23T22:27:12","date_gmt":"2021-10-24T02:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/aace\/?page_id=55"},"modified":"2021-10-24T23:27:28","modified_gmt":"2021-10-25T03:27:28","slug":"misconceptions","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/aace\/about-asexuality-and-aromanticism\/misconceptions\/","title":{"rendered":"Misconceptions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Asexuality is not:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">a medical condition<\/span><\/li>\n<li>a choice<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">celibacy\/<\/span>chastity<\/li>\n<li>waiting (for marriage, or true love, or the right person)<\/li>\n<li>something that can be changed by the right person<\/li>\n<li>something to be fixed<\/li>\n<li>being unable to have sex<\/li>\n<li>being unattractive<\/li>\n<li>just wanting attention<\/li>\n<li>being gay, but in denial<\/li>\n<li>being sexually inexperienced<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;just a phase&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Aspec people may or may not:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Want to date<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Want to get married<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Want to have kids<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Want to s<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">nuggle, hug, hold hands, masturbate, have sexual contact, role play, participate in kink and BDSM \/ power play, have sex, exchange bodily fluids, kiss, dance, flirt, feed each other, etc.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Want a romantic relationship<\/li>\n<li>Want a sexual relationship<\/li>\n<li>Want a queerplatonic relationship<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Be trans, non-binary, agender, or another gender minority<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Aros may or may not:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Have been in romantic relationships in the past<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Enjoy consuming romantic media<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Have had traumatic experiences from romance or romantic relationships<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Feel romantic attraction in limited circumstances<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Be gay, lesbian, bi, pan, straight, asexual, or another sexual orientation<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Aces may or may not:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Have had sex before<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Enjoy sex<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Be curious about sex<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Masturbate<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Watch porn\/read erotica<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Have trauma regarding sex<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Feel sexual attraction in limited circumstances<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Enjoy feeling \u2018sexy\u2019 or wearing \u2018sexy\u2019 clothing<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Be gay, lesbian, bi, pan, straight, aromantic, or another romantic orientation<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Aspec people do:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Face discrimination, known as acephobia or aphobia, including microaggressions, workplace discrimination, and even corrective rape.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Examples of Microaggressions<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;You should feel flattered by unwanted attention&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;There is no love without sex&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;That&#8217;s not real&#8221; or &#8220;You&#8217;re lying&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;But how do you know if you haven&#8217;t tried sex&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;I bet I can change that&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Romantic love is what makes us human&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;There&#8217;s something wrong with you&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Being called cold, emotionless, robots, or inhuman<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Aros who want to have sex without a romantic relationship being called \u201cplayers\u201d or \u201cpredatory&#8221;<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Infantilization of aspec people: &#8220;you&#8217;re just <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">young\/naive\/inexperienced\/a late bloomer&#8221;<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Pressure to date\/marry\/have children: &#8220;Do you have a girlfriend\/boyfriend yet?&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;I feel sorry for you&#8221; or &#8220;You&#8217;re missing out&#8221; or &#8220;You&#8217;re going to be lonely forever&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Expecting an aspec person to answer intrusive questions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Asexuality is not: a medical condition a choice celibacy\/chastity waiting (for marriage, or true love, or the right person) something that can be changed by the right person something to be fixed being unable to have sex being unattractive just wanting attention being gay, but in denial being sexually inexperienced &#8220;just a phase&#8221; &nbsp; Aspec&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3927,"featured_media":0,"parent":8,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-55","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","empty-entry-meta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/aace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/55","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/aace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/aace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/aace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/aace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/aace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/55\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/aace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/55\/revisions\/110"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/aace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/aace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}