Love without Sex: Asexual Experiences in a Sexualized Society

• Main Authors: Hung-Liang Wang, 王泓亮
• Other Authors: Chin-Ju Lin
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/55cjnw

碩士 === 高雄醫學大學 === 性別研究所 === 102 === 　　 Asexuality is beginning to receive attention of academe recently. However, it has been studied sparingly, and is still little-known to not only public but gender studies. 　　 This study defined asexual subjects strategically by citing the concept of epistemological communities, and used descriptions of experiences to recruit non-self-identified asexuals. In-depth interview was the main approach in this study, and I used narrative analysis to analyze six research participants’ life stories, to understand the relation between their experiences and sex hierarchy. According to the representation of asexual experiences, I hope we can deliberate the possible directions to fix theories and enrich our cultural resources, by exploring the disjuncture between sexual/gender theories and practical experiences. 　　 The findings show that it&;apos;&;apos;s difficult to articulate what asexual experiences are by current discourses. In contemporary sexualized society, asexuals are oppressed by different sexual normativities. Although they use sexual negotiation as micro-resistance, the complex connotations of sexual/non-sexual practices are frequently simplified. The sexualized society removes the possibility of asexuality by defining sex arbitrarily, incorporating some asexuals by calling them ‘dumb who are repressed’ with desexualization discourses, and pathologizing the rest by medical discourses. Ironically, the sexual/gender discourses aim to liberate sexuality now cooperate with the sexualized society in governing subjects out of normative sexuality. In a word, we should get rid of the dichotomous framework of sexual repression/liberation, and rethink the radical force of asexuality for subverting the sex hierarchy.