And since for the first decade or so I never heard asexuality mentioned outside of AVEN, a part of me never stopped questioning if it was a real identity at all. How could it be real, if nobody had ever heard of it?
This makes a lot of sense for me. I remember hearing of asexuality some time ago -- I'm not clear exactly when -- but it definitely seemed like a rare thing, and easily confused with a diminishing of sexuality generally that happens when we age. By contrast, I think that the visibility of discussions surrounding asexuality and people identifying as asexual has grown very rapidly in the last 10 years, much like the discussion of trans experiences.
And it is definitely a generational thing. A niece has transitioned in the last three years and the daughter of a friend is unsure how she wants to identify but prefers they/them as pronouns. There's just a much wider awareness, which I expect can also be confusing because there are so many identifying labels now for people to decide to identify with, but at least there are fewer straightjackets.
no subject
This makes a lot of sense for me. I remember hearing of asexuality some time ago -- I'm not clear exactly when -- but it definitely seemed like a rare thing, and easily confused with a diminishing of sexuality generally that happens when we age. By contrast, I think that the visibility of discussions surrounding asexuality and people identifying as asexual has grown very rapidly in the last 10 years, much like the discussion of trans experiences.
And it is definitely a generational thing. A niece has transitioned in the last three years and the daughter of a friend is unsure how she wants to identify but prefers they/them as pronouns. There's just a much wider awareness, which I expect can also be confusing because there are so many identifying labels now for people to decide to identify with, but at least there are fewer straightjackets.