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Ace
- What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex
- Narrated by: Natalie Naudus
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Categories: Health & Wellness, Psychology & Mental Health
Non-member price: $39.01
Publisher's Summary
An engaging exploration of what it means to be asexual in a world that's obsessed with sexual attraction, and what the ace perspective can teach all of us about desire and identity.
What exactly is sexual attraction, and what is it like to go through life not experiencing it? What does asexuality reveal about gender roles, about romance and consent, and the pressures of society? This accessible examination of asexuality shows that the issues that aces face - confusion around sexual activity, the intersection of sexuality and identity, navigating different needs in relationships - are the same conflicts that nearly all of us will experience. Through a blend of reporting, cultural criticism, and memoir, Ace addresses the misconceptions around the "A" of LGBTQIA and invites everyone to rethink pleasure and intimacy.
Journalist Angela Chen creates her path to understanding her own asexuality with the perspectives of a diverse group of asexual people. Vulnerable and honest, these stories include a woman who had blood tests done because she was convinced that "not wanting sex" was a sign of serious illness, and a man who grew up in a religious household and did everything "right", only to realize after marriage that his experience of sexuality had never been the same as that of others. Disabled aces, aces of color, gender-nonconforming aces, and aces who both do and don't want romantic relationships all share their experiences navigating a society in which a lack of sexual attraction is considered abnormal. Chen's careful cultural analysis explores how societal norms limit understanding of sex and relationships and celebrates the breadth of sexuality and queerness.
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What listeners say about Ace
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Mia Radic
- 21-01-2021
Fascinating
As an Ace I found this absolutely fantastic.
As a person I found the insight into the way that sex influences so much of our lives in so many different ways incredibly informative and fascinating.
1 person found this helpful
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- Daniel
- 07-11-2020
ExceIlent read
A great analysis of asexuality and what it means to be Ace. Well worth reading.
1 person found this helpful
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- akaMike
- 10-10-2020
Thank you, Angela!
Listening to this book was a great help, comfort, and at times a motivator. As someone who identifies as ace and as “????” for about everything else, this book helped me feel assured that “this isn’t just me”. I heard myself in this book. It was as though I was reading descriptions of myself, my own experiences, thoughts and feelings. I felt so validated. It relieved me, because now I’m much more certain in at least one aspect of myself.
This entire book is full of well formulated and drawn out trains of thoughts, and I found myself thinking one thing constantly: “I wholeheartedly agree!”
I initially went into this experience hoping to find a book to hand off to family and friends to say “read this, this will make you understand”, but I’m not so sure it will work on my people, personally. The downfall of this book - though the “downfall” isn’t more than a small downward step in an otherwise mountainous work - is the advancement level of the lingo used, plus the amount of (though rightfully needed and relevant) adjacent political topics. For someone who isn’t ace, isn’t as politically enlightened and very normative and sheltered (such as my parents), I’m afraid this book will be a bit too much all at once. All the new terminology that’s so quickly crash-coursed, could potentially overwhelm, and if you’re likely to get lost already, the many political digressions might derail the intention I wanted to see from this book: which was to simply validate asexuality as an orientation.
Now, I need to point out that, firstly, this was my personal hope for the book; secondly, the ability to keep up with the thread will vary depending on pre-obtained knowledge plus native language (my parents not being native to an English speaking country), and thus I’m coming from a place of hoping for a very easy/straight forward book; and thirdly, I am so pleased with every single topic that was brought up regardless, because it belonged there, built on and enriched the map Angela Chen attempted to draw of ace’s place in our society. Asexuality does after all not exist in a vacuum, and so what she decided to write - which is a vast and impressive coverage of asexuality and its societal identity - was much more important than the “asexuality for dummies” I was initially hoping for.
I might still be on the lookout for something to hand to my parents - and this book will be one of them, once they’re more advanced in their understanding - but what I did get, I value so deeply: help to accept myself more. To feel less “broken” and alone. If you ever read this, Angela: thank you.
I recommend this to every ace or questioning, as well as anyone who found this when searching to educate themselves. Basically to anyone with some basic knowledge on the topic.
6 people found this helpful
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- Chelsea N Jordan
- 05-01-2021
This book made my whole life make sense!
THANK YOU Angela Chen for putting into words what I never could until now! Your work on this subject has made my personal life (or lack thereof, depending on how you look at it *wink wink*) feel like a treasure trove of possibilities. When my childhood friends pretended to get married and play house, I wanted to play dinosaur instead. I didn’t understand the appeal. When they started putting up Leonardo DiCaprio posters, rather than pretend to take care of imaginary horses with me, I felt like an alien. All the frustrating intimate encounters I have had that felt not entirely consensual, but not entirely coerced either, all make sense now. Everything. Thank you a million times over for opening this door for me. I truly hope your book will empower more and more people, ace and not, to explore this subject in depth. We need it.
2 people found this helpful
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- Banyan M.
- 09-12-2020
EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS BOOK
Such a helpful and inspiring book for aces, but also very helpful for allos! This book is full of stories from so many different perspectives
2 people found this helpful
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- Kindle Customer
- 07-12-2020
Best book in asexuality out
It's great, feels cathartic and discusses everything I wanted it to about asexuality in relation to social pressures and relationships.
2 people found this helpful
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- Jasmine Rodgers
- 18-11-2020
a great look in sexuality for everyone
as a asexual I relate to this, but it gives a great veiw of sexuality and brakes it down.
1 person found this helpful
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- Lunecia Etienne
- 06-11-2020
Never Have I Ever Felt So Seen
This was a beautiful inside look into the community. It's much more complex living outside of the box, when most of the world live in it.
I felt seen by this and I'm glad I was able to read it during ACE Week this year.
10/10 will recommend.
1 person found this helpful
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- Renee Vredenburg
- 02-10-2020
MUST READ!!!
Loved this book and all the wide perspectives and stories in it! Even if you don't identify as Ace, I would suggest reading!
1 person found this helpful
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- Kris V Bernard
- 29-09-2020
The reader is awful
Thought to get this and listen along with reading but I couldn’t get past the terribly pointed, almost robotic voice of the reader.
Would recommend the book,NOT the audiobook.
1 person found this helpful
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- PineThoseApples
- 10-04-2021
Validation
I’ve been identifying as ace for a little over a year now and this book is exactly what I needed to hear. I experience a lot of imposter syndrome (as do many aces) and this book did a very good job of validation the relationships and emotions I’ve grown through. The last few chapters raised a lot of questions about myself and I am start looking deeper into the aro/ace community.
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- Shannon N.
- 07-04-2021
So needed! So good!
This book goes well beyond earlier works on asexuality to dissect topics of intersectionality, provide copious real examples, and dive into the heart of a healthier perspective on sex for everyone's sake - not just asexuals.
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- Holly Smith
- 27-03-2021
Good focus on intersectionality, poor performance
Very much appreciated how Ace causes complexities when matched with different backgrounds and perspectives.
Either side of that, there was a lot of focus on sex (ironically) which I couldn’t relate to at all and would recommend skipping if you’re actually ace.
There was this attitude that “we’re not *all* celibate” as if there was something wrong with it, which did rub me the wrong way.
Delivery sounds very generic, like an advert or instructional video going on for too long. I had to speed up to 1.3x to make it sound more like a human talking to me.
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- Anonymous User
- 25-03-2021
Great book
It is a beautiful book that everyone should read. It is truly amazing. The stories within are beautiful.
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