Sunday, February 3, 2008

A-Positive

Better make today's post before my computer virus comes out of the computer and eats my face!
In equally exciting news, there's a new asexual-themed website called A-Positive. The forums are geared towards an advanced discussion of how asexuality intersects with other facets of sexuality and relationships. I'll admit that many of the threads are a little too advanced for my simple faculties, but then again, there aren't that many of them yet. Head over there and make more!
My favorite part of A-Positive is the "Knowledge Base", which is in the process of compiling all the existing information about asexuality. Having every A-themed resource available in one place is definitely possible, and it would be very useful to have.
I've already learned a few things from A-Positive. For example, I didn't know that there was a 1980 article called Theories of Sexual Orientation by one Michael Storms, in which he includes asexuality in his model of orientation. Here's what he came up with:

Then one of the forum posters changed it to this, which I think I prefer:

Mmm, pretty! (And if the inventor of the prettier Storms Model is reading, please let me know, and I will credit you.) And it makes good sense, doesn't it? Either way, it's always nice to have further proof of your own existence.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

The colored version of the Storms model with its shading suggests that there are many gradations of sexual interest and sexual orientation beyond the 4 boxes that were originally used to explain everyone's sexuality. That makes it a much more accurate representation, I think. (And it's pretty too.)
I like the description of this blog given on Apositive- kudos to our Ily- she's a prolific poster!

Ily said...

Yay, Lia's back! I was tickled by my description on Apositive too-- screenshot and everything!

Anonymous said...

Hey, thanks for the plug, Ily!

Ily said...

Likewise, and you are very welcome!

Anonymous said...

That's an interesting find, but it is still simplistic, and it's also flat-out wrong in its representation of bisexual people. The fact of the matter is, bisexual people are not necessarily more sexually driven than hetero- or homosexuals just because we are attracted to "both"/all genders, as these models would seem to suggest.

Bisexual people are no more likely to be promiscuous, or have more sex, or have a higher sex drive, than hetero- or homosexual people. Bisexuality, in other words, is not the opposite of asexuality with regards to having a sex drive.

Ily said...

Hey maymay, thanks for your input! I noticed that about bisexuals as well. I like to consider bisexuals the opposite of asexuals when it comes to generalized attraction (bisexuals are attracted to either sex, while asexuals are attracted to neither). But, considering there are bi-asexuals, it definitely doesn't say much about your sex drive. Maybe the model should say "Romanticism" instead of "Eroticism"? But that wouldn't necessarily be true either. It's still very imperfect.

Ily said...

Just to clarify, I'd rather say "two sides of the same coin" than "opposites".