AVEN Project Team

The AVEN backup boards

Sun, 19 May 2013 15:15:39 -0400

Unfortunately, AVEN is having some technical server problems right now, which is why the forums are currently inaccessible. We’re working to try and get it back up as soon as we can, but in the meantime we have alternate boards open here:

http://asexualityorg.proboards.com/index.cgi

Since it’s not connected to the same database as AVEN, you will need to re-register.

Our apologies for all the technical difficulties :(

Help AVEN raise funds to support the SF Pride Parade and Asexuality Conference!

Thu, 02 May 2013 18:48:42 -0400

Help AVEN raise funds to support the SF Pride Parade and Asexuality Conference!:

AVEN is shaping up to have the biggest and best Pride ever. On Saturday we’ll have a full-fledged conference in Berkeley with the major leaders of the Ace Movement and a day full of workshops on everything from improving mental health services for aces to aces in popular television.

Then on Saturday, anyone who wants to will march in the parade! We’ll have art, t-shirts, flags and a great banner.

If we raise $1000 we can cover the cost of the conference and the march, including catering, t-shirts, and pride parade registration.

If we raise $2500 we can cover the conference and parade plus print out tons of stickers and pamphlets. The stickers will be for everyone at the conference and for us to hand out at the parade. The pamphlets will be for us to hand out to organizations that want to do ace visibility (we get requests for them all the time and our stock has run out.)

Anything else we raise will go to printing more materials and to covering server costs for 2013.

After a long period of inactivity, AVEN (@asexuality) is back on twitter again - check us out!

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 20:35:00 -0400

After a long period of inactivity, AVEN (@asexuality) is back on twitter again - check us out!:

The latest from AVEN (@asexuality). Updates from the Asexual Visibility and Education Network.

AVEN Digest - 22nd April 2013

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 20:13:53 -0400

Site News:

Raccoons & Arca N.H. has been elected to the Project Team: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/86398-welcome-our-new-pt-member/

Visibility:

Asexual vlogger swankivy has posted a video giving an overview of asexuality: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/86415-asexuality-an-overview-by-swankivy/

World Watch:

Student newspaper The Gustavian Weekly discusses sexuality (including asexuality) in a recent blog post: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/86524-cloudy-with-a-chance-of-musing-the-gustavian-weekly-us/

Community:

There will be a meetup in Toronto on Saturday 27th April: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/86546-april-2013-meeting-toronto/

Still in Canada, on Sunday 28th there will be a meet in Waterloo: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/73880-kitchenerwaterloocambridge-meetup/?p=2401761

In the UK, a number of meetups will be occurring on Saturday, in Manchester (http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/84321-manchester-2013-meet-up-27th-of-april/), Bristol (http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/85489-bristol-film-club-27th-april-and-18th-may/) and at Thorpe Park (http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/85601-thorpe-park-27th-april/).

AVEN Digest - 15th April 2013

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 01:01:01 -0400

Visibility and Education:

The LGBT wing of the PCS trade union in the UK have voted to allow asexuals to join as full members: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/77517-asexuals-in-the-uk-civil-service/?p=2395380

Asexuality will be represented at a sexual minorities event in Toyohashi on Sunday 21st April: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/82675-talking-event-in-spring-2013-toyohashi/?p=2391781

An index of asexual student groups is being compiled: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/86230-index-of-asexual-student-groups-wip/

Bowling Green State University in Ohio has been running an Asexuality Awareness Program: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/86163-students-educate-on-asexuality-the-bg-news/

Community:

There will be a meetup in Skipton (UK) on Saturday 20th April: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/83945-skipton-meet-saturday-20apr2013/

An evening London meet is scheduled for Sunday 21st: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/86187-london-meetup-april-21-2013-from-5-pm/

AVEN Digest - 8th April 2013

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 16:18:15 -0400

Site News:

Voting is currently underway in the election to appoint a new member of the Project Team: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/85889-new-project-team-member-needed-voting/

Applications to the AVEN Media Team are now being taken: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/86097-join-the-aven-media-team/

Visibility and Education:

A postgraduate student in Glasgow would like to interview people who identify as both asexual and disabled: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/86061-participants-required-for-a-study-on-asexuality-and-disability/

The team at Asexual Awareness Week will be hosting a free introductory webinar on asexuality later this month, in association with Campus Pride: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/85892-free-online-webinar-for-your-campus-group-gsa-etc/

The first annual Cake Day for asexual awareness will take place on Monday 20th May: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/85921-first-annual-cake-day/

World Watch:

Natasha V. Thompson has interviewed Professor Anthony Bogaert, author of Understanding Asexuality: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/85692-interview-natasha-v-thompson-interviews-anthony-f-bogaert-author-of-understanding-asexuality/

HerCampus.com has an article on asexuality: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/85606-hercampuscom/

In a recent survey, 9% of readers of men’s magazine Details identified as asexual: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/85839-9-of-responders-of-a-sex-survey-identify-as-asexual/

Articles in LGBT magazines Gay Community News and Lesbilicious have conflicting views on the inclusion of asexuals under the LGBT umbrella: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/85800-lgbt-soup-for-a-reason-lesbilicious/

A CNN article on sexual minorities briefly mentions asexuality: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/85950-cnn-article-on-sexual-minorities/

The Daily Mail’s relationship page features a letter from an asexual man: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/86000-daily-mail-on-saturday-acticle-on-asexuality/

Community:

There will be a meetup in Vancouver on Saturday 13th April: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/85697-vancouver-april-2013-meetup-fun-yay/

Also on Saturday, a meetup at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens in New York: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/54705-new-york-city/?p=2385177

Across the pond, there will be a meetup in Norwich, also on Saturday: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/84257-norwich-saturday-13th-april-2013-come-and-meet-some-new-people/

Saturday also sees a meetup in Stirling: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/85005-regular-scottish-meets-stirling-13th-april-2013/

New digital literary magazine Parallel Worlds has been created for asexual/agender audiences: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/85975-parallel-worlds-a-sci-fispeculative-lit-magazine-for-aces-d/

A small number of IRC chatrooms are devoted to asexuality: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/85836-asexuality-irc-roomschannels/

A Tumblr user has compiled a guide to asexual content on the site: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/85875-tumblrs-guide-to-asexuality/

AVEN Backup Boards

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 21:07:24 -0400

AVEN Backup Boards:

AVEN is currently down due to some technical difficulties, but we’re working to bring it back up as soon as we can.

In the mean time, feel free to chat on the AVEN backup boards: http://asexualityorg.proboards.com/index.cgi

Miscellani: nextstepcake: miscellanii: I was scrolling through the email...

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 16:45:10 -0400

Miscellani: nextstepcake: miscellanii: I was scrolling through the email...:

nextstepcake:

miscellanii:

I was scrolling through the email newsletter that my school sends out a couple times a week. One of the items was about a “LGBTA” reception for seniors.

I almost got excited about the “A” there. But then I clicked on the link (and I bet you can see where…

Aven is temporarily having some technical difficulties, but in the meantime you can check out an incomplete version of the list on the backup boards here: http://asexualityorg.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=vised&action=display&thread=18

Participants required for a study on asexuality and disability

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 14:01:15 -0400

Participants required for a study on asexuality and disability:

Hi everyone,

My name is Karen and I’m a sociology postgraduate student at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. For my Masters dissertation, I am conducting research on the topic of asexuality and disability: specifically exploring the experiences of people who self-identify as asexual and have a disability, and looking at the ways in which asexuality and disability might ‘intersect’. I’m recruiting people to take part in an online (individual) interview with myself – and I was hoping that some of you might be interested in taking part!

I am interesting in hearing from folks all along the asexuality spectrum, and of all genders, relationship orientations, nationalities etc. I am also working with a broad definition of ‘disability’ – what is important is that you consider yourself to be a disabled person, or that you consider yourself to be disabled in some way.

It’s also really really important that you are over the age of 18!

If you think you might be interested, you can send me an email at 0705067c@student.gla.ac.uk and I’ll then send you a plain language information sheet which will give you a lot more details about the study (as well as my full name, contact details for my supervisor and University ethics committee). Once you have read that you can decide whether or not you want to take part. By contacting me you are in no way committing yourself to taking part - and if after reading the information sheet you decide that it is not for you, then that’s absolutely fine too! I’m also more than happy to address any questions or concerns that you might have about the research.

Thanks very much for reading this – and I hope to speak to some of you soon!

Best wishes,

Karen

Join the AVEN Media Team!

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 12:01:44 -0400

Join the AVEN Media Team!:

As one of the largest and best known asexual organizations, AVEN often receives requests from journalists looking to interview members of the asexual community in order to get a better understanding of the community and to create stories about asexual experiences. Does this sound like something you’d be interested in? If so, you should consider joining the Media Team!

The AVEN Media Team is a volunteer group of AVEN members and other asexuals who have expressed an interest in speaking to media. When we receive requests from a media person, we will forward the request to Media Team members in the relevent area. Simply joining the Media Team does not commit you to anything; you are always free to accept or decline media requests.

All information will be kept confidential and will not be shared with parties other than the AVEN Project Team without your permission.

To join the media team, simply fill out the form here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1EDRGlsKfOb_FhEpxKzDAmnT6KKFSdXePzKSLgoGas00/viewform

If you have any questions, please email us at aven.pt@gmail.com

Cake Day is May 20! Follow the link for more info.

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 12:54:30 -0400

Cake Day is May 20! Follow the link for more info.:

Bring your cakes, pies, cupcakes and more and share desserts with family and friends to help raise asexuality awareness. Everyone’s invited- no exclusions, hatred, or confusion!

Free Asexuality Webinar by AAW!

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 06:06:00 -0400

Hey all - check out this awesome event being put on by Asexual Awareness Week!

Hey everyone,

In our partnership with Campus Pride, Asexual Awareness Week (AAW) has been asked to present an asexual allyship webinar later this month. We’ve got space for campuses and individuals to sign up to participate and we’re encouraging groups of people to get together and register together as one group. Even if you can’t do that, this webinar will be filled with tools for making asexuality more visible on your college campus and about the resources AAW has to help. It’s going to be very ace 101-y, so if you have teachers, friends, or groups that need some extra understanding about asexuality, send them to this webinar! It’s free, it’s 90 minutes of fun, and everyone will get a lot from it.

You can find the Facebook event here and sign up directly for the webinar here. Please feel free to spread the word about this too Signal boosts always gratefully accepted.

nextstepcake: Asexual Research Reading Group - 2nd...

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 06:01:15 -0400

nextstepcake:

Asexual Research Reading Group - 2nd meeting

Hello all!

Our next group skype chat will be Saturday, April 6 at 1:00pm PST. We will be reading

View Post

nextstepcake: And now, we will take a break from our scheduled...

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 05:58:05 -0400

nextstepcake:

And now, we will take a break from our scheduled programming to bring you some cake.

AVEN Digest - 25th March 2013

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 16:32:00 -0400

Site News:

Discussions have begun regarding a posible forum review: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/85397-forums-review-idea/

Asexuality Events:

Emory University in Atlanta hosts a screening of the (A)Sexual documentary on Tuesday 2nd April, and a discussion entitled ‘Is Asexuality Queer?’ on Wednesday 3rd: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/39619-the-atlanta-ga-area-meet-and-greet-is-on/?p=2364449

Community:

There will be a meetup in Toronto on Saturday 30th March: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/85488-march-2013-meetup-in-toronto/

Also on Saturday, a meetup in Birmingham (UK): http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/81330-birmingham-30th-march-2013-hotel-info-added-to-first-post-for-anyone-staying-over/

A new blog focussing on asexual creativity has been started: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/85453-new-submission-based-blog-for-aces-to-get-more-exposure-for-their-art-music-prose-poetry/

Please Note:

There will be no Digest next Monday, 1st April. Normal service will resume on Monday 8th.

AVEN Digest - 18th March 2013

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 21:04:18 -0400

Site News:

Club_of_Diamonds and .Lia have been appointed moderators in the latest round of elections: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/85269-welcome-our-new-moderators/

Requests:

Participants have been requested for a survey about closeness in both platonic and romantic relationships: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/85081-survey-about-relationships-both-platonic-and-romantic/

World Watch:

Format Radio in Italy and Radio MonteCarlo recently ran shows on asexuality: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/85103-ith-goes-on-radio-for-the-first-time-d/

A Czech article on asexuality from 2010 has been discovered: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/85135-i-bez-sexu-se-d-astn-t-novinkycz-article-retrieved-from-wayback-machine/

A list has been compiled of articles linking back to AVEN: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/85133-selection-of-various-articles-courtesy-of-alexa-rankings-2012/

There is also a list of asexuality articles in various languages: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/85219-taking-a-break-from-the-bigger-languages/

A Wordpress post discusses the higher rate of sexual minorities (including asexuality) in individuals with autistic spectrum disorder: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/85188-sexuality-in-a-community-based-sample-of-adults-with-autism-spectrum-disorder/

Published comments to a BBC article on celibacy include a response from an asexual: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/85200-bbc-comments-on-an-article-about-celibacy-include-an-asexual-response/

Community:

There will be a meetup in Melbourne on Saturday 23rd March: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/60155-when-is-the-next-melbourne-ace-and-or-aromantic-meetup/?p=2372282

Also on Saturday, a meet in Bristol: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/84205-next-proposed-bristol-meet-23rd-march/

AVEN Digest - 11th March 2013

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 15:28:00 -0400

Site News:

Voting has commenced in the moderator elections: http://www.asexuality.org/en/forum-33/announcement-23-new-moderators-needed;-voting-has-started/

Visibility:

A screening of the (A)Sexual documentary and a discussion about asexuality and LGBT are taking place at Emory University in Atlanta in early April: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/84909-events-at-emory-atlanta-ga/

The Italian Marie Claire article has been translated into English: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/84264-marie-claire-publishes-a-great-article-in-italian-on-asexuality/?p=2362551

The Psychology and Sexuality journal has published an asexuality-themed edition: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/84981-academic-articles-eight-of-them/

Community:

There will be a meetup in London on Friday 15th March: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/85024-west-london-friday-15-march-early-evening/

The next San Francisco meet will be held on Sunday 17th: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/34217-regular-san-francisco-meets/

New blog Asexual Life has been started: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/84805-blog-for-asexuality/

AVEN Digest - 25th February 2013

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 01:02:00 -0500

Site News:

…but there are sounds has been elected to the Project Team: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/84499-welcome-our-new-pt-member/

And GIR is our new administrator: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/84502-welcome-our-new-administrator/

World Watch:

The Italian edition of Marie Claire magazine has published an article on asexuality: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/84264-marie-claire-publishes-a-great-article-in-italian-on-asexuality/

LGBT(etc.) ally content currently doing the rounds on facebook includes asexuality: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/84352-asexuality-mentioned-on-facebook-ally-picture/

Web statistics site Alexa.com shows how AVEN has had a huge increase in popularity since 2003: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/84359-aven-on-alexacom-great-success-after-10-years/

Asexuality has been featured as a topic in the Reality Check podcast: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/84486-asexuality-as-topic-in-the-reality-check-podcast/

The NZ edition of 20/20 News has broadcast an interview with an asexual couple: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/84355-new-zealands-version-of-2020-thursdays-february-21st-tonight/

Community:

There will be a meetup in London on Sunday 3rd March: http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/83397-london-evening-of-sunday-3-march-tea-coffee-chit-chat-dinner-new-friends/

Carnival of Aces - March 2013 edition

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 16:19:14 -0500

adventures-in-asexuality:

Hi and welcome to the March 2013 Carnival of Aces!

If you’re not familiar with the concept, a blogging carnival is just where lots of different people write about one particular topic, and their take on that. The masterpost for this particular carnival is here, and, as you might guess from the title, it is centred on asexuality. As this month’s host, I’ll collect all the entries at the end of the month into one post for easy reference.

This month’s theme is ‘Asexuality and Kink’; it’s something I find really fascinating and would love to hear what all of you have to say about it!

Some starting points, if you don’t know what to write:

-Are you interested in such?

-Why?

-Do you think that being asexual makes it harder to express or fulfil such desires or not?

-Do you think that such things are oversexualised or that there should be a wider acceptance of nonsexual kink or does that not trouble you? Relatedly, do you think there’s a lack of resources for asexuals interested in such or not?

-Do you think that an asexual experience of kink is fundamentally different from a sexual one, or not?

Anything you have to say is definitely welcome, whether in the format of a blog post, a video, a graphic, whatever - send me a message or an ask with a link, or send me an email at nicolaskelsall@gmail.com. (apologies for change; email acting up!) If for any reason you don’t want to host your piece on your blog, I’ll be happy to host it for you.

The deadline for submissions is March 31st. I’m excited to see what you guys come up with!

Happy writing!

Carnival of Aces: Round-up for February

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 15:33:22 -0500

wtfdynamics:

Welcome to the conclusion of February’s Carnival of Aces!

(February! What a month! I hosted a Carnival, attended my first meetup, and hit the one-year mark for discussing aceness with Queenie and wearing an ace ring. Man oh man.)

And what a Carnival it was! People from across the asexual community shared their thoughts on language and communication, some of whom submitted graphics or multi-part posts. SO MANY THOUGHTS ON WORDS, I seriously can’t even. Feast your eyes and minds on this:

Warren started us off by writing about societal assumptions about sexuality.

Victrix wrote about attempts to define things like “sexual attraction” and “romance” in the asexual and romantic communities.

Queenie wrote a post called “Talking about (a)sexuality in Japanese.”

Ace Muslim wrote about “The Power of Words.”

Pinstripesuit wrote a post called “Word Vomit on Words: Rebranding Love,” accompanied by a graphic that made me flail in the best way possible.

Sarah K. described ”My First Attempt to Discuss Asexuality in Mandarin.”

And then Vincent wrote a response post called “Translation of Asexual (無性戀)”

Adrian wrote about “Communicating Demisexuality.”

Kinkyace shared their thoughts on “The Word ‘Asexual.’”

James explored the question of “What to call ‘sexual activity’?”

Similarly, Asexycuddleslut asked “What isn’t sex?”

Codeman38 wrote a post called “Separated by a Common Language.”

Demi Gray wrote about “Language, Identity, and Labels.”

I finally finished my own post last night, “Effi and asexuality, with extra amounts of WORDS because that’s how I roll.”

And Nextstepcake has written two parts (Part 1 and Part 2) of a series called “Aces like Words,” which in my case is a serious understatement. :P

(If you submitted something and I missed it, please let me know, and I’ll add it to the list ASAP!)

NEEDLESS TO SAY, I am blown away by the turn-out for this month’s Carnival, and I look forward to taking some time to read them more thoroughly after my show closes. I’d like to thank everyone who contributed or who signal boosted in any way. This was my first time doing anything like this, and my blog isn’t super well-known, but the result has been incredible and hosting was an absolute blast. (If you’d like to host the carnival yourself, check out the masterpost!)

In March the carnival will be hosted over at adventures-in-asexuality, and the theme is “Asexuality and Kink,” so you should check that out too!

All my best,

Effi