Critique of popular reason: Unpopular opinion
I don’t have a problem with the asexual community having the AVEN triangle as one of its symbols.
Even if it’s intended to be referencing the pink triangle.
I am a gay person and I have no problem with this. I am a trans person and I have no problem with this.
There are a limited number of…
I really wish the ace community would move away from the triangle. I get that it’s a symbol of inclusion in non-heteronormative identities, and I get that some groups use it who might not have been rounded up during the Holocaust. I also know that some aces have gone through some really awful stuff for being ace, that I have not. But I don’t think it’s our call to make. However, if queer aces want to use it, I think that’s their right.
Oh for—it’s not fucking based off the pink triangle. Seriously, it’s not. I’ve derived the AVEN triangle while doing an explanation of how asexuality fits into the Kinsey scales or while talking about asexuality a dozen times, it’s something I actually do pretty frequently when explaining how grey-As fit into ace communities, it’s often a fairly big part of my 101. It’s not an attempt to call attention to the Holocaust, it’s an old and fairly outdated model of how ace spectrums might actually work.
I don’t necessarily like it because it’s a symbol of AVEN to me, and also an oversimplified model, but seeing this overapologetic nonsense? Where people go “well I’m sorry” for something their community didn’t actually do?
That makes me really, really pissed. And frankly? That makes me inclined to hold onto the triangle. I am tired of bending over backward to a community of people who will never, ever tell us we are acceptable. Their goalposts will always move so that aces are in the wrong. They will always find some new thing about this community to pick at and use to shout that we are unacceptable. They will always continue to take every thing an ace says in bad faith. They will always take individual aces fucking up as a symbol for the entire community. They are not interested in meeting in the middle; they are interested in silencing as many aces and symbols of asexuality that they possibly can.
Seriously. Fuck that.
reblogging for factorx’s excellent commentary.
