Media portrayal of asexuality

The portrayals of asexuality in the media reflect societal attitudes towards asexuality, reflected in the existing media portrayals. Throughout history, asexual characters have appeared in television series, animated series, literature, comics, video games, music, and film.

Asexual representation in the media is limited and rarely openly acknowledged or confirmed by creators or authors.[1] Representation for asexual people in fiction has been mixed, with strong prejudice against asexuals, asexual erasure, and few asexual characters in media.[2][3][4] This is because many characters are "suspected to be asexual" but are not explicitly stated as asexual,[5] while other asexual characters are secondary and are not protagonists.[6] In a 2015 article, Lauren Jankowski stated that while more characters have appeared in TV and films, their asexuality is often portrayed as a fixable problem, as tropes for asexual and aromantic people are common.[7] Jankowski further argued that not having asexuals engage in media portrayals of asexuality has resulted in "grossly inaccurate and damaging depictions of this orientation."

  1. ^ Kelemen, Erick (2007). "Asexuality". In Fedwa Malti-Douglas (ed.). Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender. Vol. 1. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA. p. 103. Retrieved May 2, 2016 – via Archive.org.
  2. ^ Kate, Lyons (September 1, 2012). "Prejudice Against "Group X" (Asexuals)". Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers, LLC. Archived from the original on December 30, 2019. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  3. ^ Jankowski, Laura (February 27, 2015). "Too Niche". Jim C. Hines. Archived from the original on June 21, 2020. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
  4. ^ Jankowski, Laura (February 28, 2019). "Asexual Representation in Mainstream Speculative Fiction". Book Smugglers. Archived from the original on February 28, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
  5. ^ "Asexual Representation". SiOWfa15 Science in Our World Certainty and Controversy. Penn State University. April 15, 2014. Archived from the original on January 31, 2015. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
  6. ^ Phin, Rose Vanessa [@wordfey] (August 10, 2017). "Jo: Asexual characters are frequently secondary, not written as protagonists. #worldcon75 #asexuality" (Tweet). Archived from the original on June 21, 2020. Retrieved June 21, 2020 – via Twitter.
  7. ^ Jankowski, Lauren (August 3, 2015). "We're Not Broken: Asexual Characters in Pop Culture". Bitch. Bitch Media. Archived from the original on April 8, 2020. Retrieved June 21, 2020.