Asexual Ally Tips

1. Educate yourself and others about asexuality

 

2. Speak up if you hear an asexual person being ridiculed or harassed for their orientation.

 

3. Explicitly include asexuality and its related identities in sexual orientation-focused groups, workshops, discussions, etc.

 

4. Don't automatically assume that everyone you meet is allosexual, even if they seem perfectly comfortable talking or writing about sex.

 

5. Respect a person's self-identity and refer to them by whatever labels (or lack thereof) they apply to themselves.

 

6. Don't ask highly personal questions about a person's sexual feelings or experiences, unless you are close enough to the person that you know such questions would be acceptable.

 

7. Don't tokenize an asexual person by expecting them to be the spokesperson for all things asexual.

 

8. Recognize that asexual people may have varying degrees of comfort with discussions of sex; some asexual people may be very uncomfortable with it, others may be completely fine with it and may even enjoy flirting or making sexual jokes just for fun.  If you're not sure where someone's boundaries are, ask them.

 

9. Correct misconceptions about asexuality if you hear someone expressing them.

 

10. Don't assume anything about an asexual person’s romantic orientation, or about their past or present sexual experiences (or lack thereof).

 

11. Cultivate a vision of sex positivity in which not wanting sex is just as valid and affirming as wanting it.