Asexuality and Fandom

"Ace" redirects here. You may be looking for Doctor Who companion Ace McShane.

Trope · Genre
Synonyms:	ace, aspec
Related:	gray-romantic, demiromantic, demisexual or semisexual
See Also:	asexual_fandom, Aro Fandom, Fictosexuality
Tropes · Slash Tropes · Tropes by Fandom
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Asexuality is an umbrella term that encompasses both people who do not experience sexual attraction, as well as those who feel little attraction, or attraction conditioned to some factor. Sometimes fictosexuals are considered ace, since they are only attracted to fictional characters and not real people, although ace community might define the two terms are different.

In fanworks, an asexual or "ace" character or relationship usually does not display much or any interest in sexual sensations. Fanworks that include asexuality range from rare to more prevalent depending on the fandom.

Ace Characters

Human characters specifically stated to be ace are rare. Ace headcanons are common in some fandoms. Sometimes, distinguishing between a common fanon headcanon and deliberate ace-coding can be difficult. Characters commonly perceived as ace include:

Archie Comics: Since the comics began, Jughead Jones was never a huge fan of women. The joke has been that he is in a relationship with food. Some fans feel that he was clearly coded as gay in the older comics, however in the 2016 issue Jughead #4 it is stated that he is asexual. In the CW show Riverdale, Jughead appears to be heterosexual. Jughead's orientation is a topic of much discourse in fandom.

Assassin's Creed: Many fans have expressed the headcanon that Ratonhnhaké:ton ("Connor") is on the asexual/aromantic spectrum.

The Big Bang Theory: Sheldon Cooper is often cited as an example of a character who is asexual in canon. Despite this, he does have sex in canon, and could be taken as an example of an asexual character that has had a sex life.

Bojack Horseman: Todd Chavez is an openly asexual character.

Critical Role: Caduceus Clay is an aro-ace character from Campaign 2. In-game in episode 114, An Open Window, Caduceus says that sex is "not really for him"; Talesin later confirmed on Twitter that Caduceus was also aromantic in addition to the fact that Caduceus was planned as ace from character creation . The revelation was especially meaningful to fans as it took place during Asexual Awareness Week.

Dishonored: Head writer Harvey Smith confirmed on Twitter that the assassin Daud (antagonist of the first game and protagonist of the DLCs) is asexual. An in-game book says that "sex had never interested him".

Doctor Who: Especially fans of the classic series often viewed the Doctor as being asexual. Some fans were therefore dismayed by the 'shippy vibes included in the newer series.

Dreaming of Sunshine: The main character Nara Shikako is canonically aromantic and asexual, although the author, Silver Queen, has said she doesn't mind people shipping Shikako in their recursive fanfiction.

Good Omens: Crowley and Aziraphale, as well as other celestial beings, are often interpreted as asexual (and possibly aromantic), due to a line in the book which describes angels as "sexless unless they really feel like making an effort". Some fans consider this an asexual relationship, while others use "making an effort" as a euphemism for sex. After the TV series was released, many fans expressed joy at a positive portrayal of asexuality, although others wished the relationship had been made explicitly romantic. Co-author and showrunner Neil Gaiman has expressed support for many possible interpretations, including asexual and aromantic ones.

Leverage: Some fans think that Parker is ace.

Mass Effect: The salarians in general are considered to be an asexual race, but the most prominent example of the salarians' asexuality within fandom is the character of Mordin Solus. While he eventually sees Commander Shepard as a good friend, he politely turns down any notion of a relationship with them -if they are not in a romance with another character at the time-, but adds that if he were to "try human", he would "try" Shepard (interestingly enough, he says this to both male and female Shepards).

Les Misérables: Enjolras is often interpreted as being asexual, due to Hugo's description of him in the Brick. However, Enjolras's sexuality is not clearly defined in any canon and is mainly understood through interpreting Classical allusions, and is accordingly one of the most commonly debated issues in the Les Mis fandom.

Mob Psycho 100: Shigeo and Reigen are commonly percieved as ace, especially Reigen due to a line where he asks Dimple if love requires sexual desire. This caused discourse on tumblr.

Monk: Adrian Monk has been interpreted as asexual by some fans, due to various factors in canon including a dialogue which indicates he and his wife never had intercourse.

One Piece: Monkey D. Luffy is sometimes thought to be asexual.

Raise de wa Chanto: Ume is asexual in canon, and identifies as such in the show. In season 1, she goes to a lesbian bar to see if it's just men she's not attracted to, and finds she's not attracted to women either. In season 2, she identifies as asexual and considers marrying a bisexual character to get his mother off his back about his boyfriend, with him going as far as to offer to write her a contract that they will never have any sexual contact.

Sherlock Holmes fandoms: The character of Sherlock Holmes is sometimes seen as being asexual.

Some writers like exploring what this means for his possible romance with Watson. Holmes/Watson or Sherlock/John fic where Holmes and Watson first get together and Holmes is asexual and Watson is not often has some element of angst as they negotiate their romantic relationship. John is often portrayed as missing sex and many stories end in a compromise where their relationship has some consensual sexual element. One common plot in Sherlock BBC fanwork ends with Sherlock convincing a reluctant John that he is comfortable participating in some sexual activity with John.

Sherlock Holmes's brother, Mycroft, is also sometimes characterized as asexual and other characters rarely.

SpongeBob SquarePants: In 2005, the We Are Family Foundation released a music video featuring more than 100 well-known children's characters, to promote diversity and tolerance. Multiple conservative groups were offended and attacked Spongebob in particular, alleging that the cartoon series depicted SpongeBob and Patrick in a gay relationship. Creator Stephen Hillenburg made a statement in response that "We never intended them to be gay. I consider them to be almost asexual." Many fans embraced this as canon.

Stargate Atlantis: In SGA fic, the character of John Sheppard has multiple times been written as asexual. This may in part be due to the fanon trope that he is touch-averse.

Trigun: Vash the Stampede has romantic storylines in canon but is often perceived as asexual.

Discourse and Meta

Ace fans sometimes interact with fanworks differently than allo (non-ace) fans do. This has led to meta about canon and fanon, as well as discourse over headcanons and other aspects of fandom. Common discourse topics on tumblr include headcanoning characters of color and autistic or otherwise disabled characters as ace.

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

Ace Characters and Sex in Fanwork

Some fans have expressed concern over the prevalence of ace characters, for whom sex is not a focus, being depicted having sex in fanwork. One fan writes this is perhaps an effect of allo people writing ace characters as well as a problem with the constraints of the romance genre in general:

Well, seeing as how 99% of the population is sexual, that's their frame of reference and they may have a hard time breaking out of that. Sadly, gen fic is pretty rare, and I've noticed that there are certain tropes for fics that involve romantic relationships. Unfortunately all of these tropes assume that romance invariably leads to sex, even if said sex isn't shown in the fic. It becomes an expectation of the genre (if fanfic can be classified as a genre), and a lot of people can't figure out how to work around that expectation. It becomes easier to figure out a reason why the ace character has to have sex than to go against the archetype of how romantic relationships in fictions are Supposed to Be.

The pattern of ace characters altruistically entering into sexual relationships in fanwork is also criticized by other fans.

. . . the narrative of "I'm not sexual, I just like giving you handjobs" is one I can't relate to. It tires me to read stories about "ace" characters without seeing evidence that their relationship to sex actually differs from sexual people. It's not unthinkable for me that some aces would want to have sex, for a host of reasons, but I'm tired of the "magic, selfless ace, who just wants to please" trope. I'd love to read the "magic, selfless sexual, who just wants to please" trope, now; I think it's time to write some of that.

Depictions of asexuality can be idealistic when it comes to the willingness of all ace characters to engage in sexual activity:

Honestly, I think the balance of ase-in-porn!fic vs. ace-no-porn!fic should be considered on a character by character, fandom by fandom basis. In some, it will definitely be more probable than others due to canonical characterization…. At the same time, I also admit to concern that all of the sex fic and happy endings will create a misconception that all asexuals will always be able and willing to compromise and that doing so is no big deal.

Overall there is a lack of variety in relationship patterns in fanwork, especially involving asexuals:

[The "magic self-less ace" trope] can create unrealistic expectations of relationship dynamics that are difficult to pursue in real life. Doesn't mean it shouldn't be written, but too much would be troublesome. Eh, what we really need is a good bouquet of different fic types, so they can be compared and contrasted for possible usefulness as role models.

On the other hand, fic about ace characters having sex can be a way for ace fans to explore their sexuality.

In addition, as one fan writes, the focus on discussing whether or not ace characters can have sex can distract from discussions on other ways writers can create harmful portrayals of ace people.

Most of the discussion of whether allo people can write ace characters all comes down to the same debate over and over: are you allowed to write ace people having sex or not? With responses ranging from “No, never!” to “Yes, always!” with rarely any nuance. But the fact is that there are just as many ways to insensitively write an asexual character in the most G-rated fics, and I never see any discussion on that. So I’m starting one myself!

https://dathen.tumblr.com/post/632990155613093888/it-feels-a-little-weird-to-start-off-ace-awareness

Asexuality and Other Marginalized Identities

Headcanoning characters as both asexual and other marginalized identities can be a sensitive topic, out of a desire to avoid the stereotype of desexualising a group. This is especially common with headcanoning disabled characters as ace, or as both disabled and ace.

On the topic of headcanoning Oswald Cobblepot from Gotham as asexual, one fan writes:

there is a history in media of desexualizing disabled people. we are infantilized, over and over again, our sexuality stripped away from us.

disabled people can be sexual. many are. many also are met with “well how does that work,” or “does it work” (obviously that one applies to people with visible physical disabilities).

so i just would like to ask you to be thoughtful about headcanoning a physically disabled character as asexual, since media strips away not only our desirability, but our own desires as well. people who are visibly physically disabled are a fetish or undesirable in equal measures, and are often not allowed to want.

jewishgarygreen on tumblr

However, marginalized ace fans exist, and many of them criticize this trend of avoiding writing ace characters that share a commonly desexualized identity. They argue that execution matters, and that it is important to represent the intersections of various identities.

In response to an unspecified post, one neurodivergent ace fan writes:

I want to keep this post fandom nonspecific since this is an issue EVERYWHERE I went, but the character in question for the “you can’t headcanon him as anything but white or it’s desexualization” accusation I saw (ironically written by a white person) a) is an adult, b) has confidently set boundaries for sexual activity, c) is unabashedly portrayed as receiving romantic interest & desire for the entire course of the show, and d) is the main character and almost always centered in fanworks. It’s practically a checklist for why the above wouldn’t apply. But with this lazy, harmful approach of “asexuality can’t be combined with any other marginalized identity,” it still gets the “problematic” label slapped on it. And let me tell you, the asexual PoC in the discords I’m in were NOT happy with that post telling them “just :) think about why this is wrong :))”

dathen on tumblr

Tagging on AO3

Tagging on Archive of Our Own is always a somewhat contentious topic. An user on the anon meme fail_fandomanon asked, "Nonnies, Character A is asexual but not aromantic. Should I use Character A/Character B or Character A & Character B in the relationship tag?" which got a good spread of responses:

That's very obviously /. -1 on the tagging Asexual A. Unless the fic is about them being ace, there's no need for the tag.

-1, I wouldn't tag Asexuality unless it was a fic about exploring a character's asexuality, but tagging identity headcanons helps both people who share the headcanon to find it, and people who are strictly into different headcanons to avoid it.

ayrt

I feel like it's like tagging for trans character when nothing in the fic really tells you the character is trans other than the absence of evidence of them being cis. It's like tagging mentioned ships with their relationship tags. False advertisement especially when nobody would know the character is ace without the tags saying it.

ayrt If that tag is the only way you'd know, and the only indication is they don't fuck, then yeah I wouldn't bother tagging it. Since the author thought it was important enough to mention in the initial question, I was assuming it was brought up in the fic, which I would tag for. Fics I would tag with Asexuality as trope in addition to the character tag would be things like character introspection about their sexuality or relationship negotiation between ace character and non-ace partner.

I disagree about not tagging with Asexual Character. This is how the "Asexual Character" tag becomes nothing but regurgitated issuefic product, if the only fics that use the tag are ones where it's all navel-gazing about asexuality. People complain about that all the time, but it won't change until people start posting fics that are just about asexual characters living their lives, while being asexual.

There's a middle ground between "this is thoroughly issuefic" and "you wouldn't know if I hadn't tagged it."

Example Fanworks

James Bond:

The perks of Constancy by superpol

A James Bond/Q story about James Bond navigating his relationship with an asexual Q. Includes relationship negotiation.

Harry Potter:

love like the love in storybooks by dirgewithoutmusic

A series of snippets on ace characters in the HP universe.

Leverage:

The Not Your Teaching Tool Job (AO3 link) by BlackEyedGirl

Has Parker as a biromantic asexual in a relationship with Hardison and Eliot. The story revolves around her trying to explain to them her feelings on sex.

DC Comics:

What's Red And Black And Broken? by dofensphinx

Harley just wants a normal life now, she wants to go to work and go home, handsome billionaires and villainous exs were not part of the plan, but nothing ever went according to her plans. (Harley Quinn/Bruce Wayne)

Marvel Cinematic Universe:

Rogers & Barnes: Partners by triedunture

Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers, Steve and Bucky's friendship has been rocky ever since Bucky confessed his tender feelings and Steve left him out in the cold. Can asexual, completely-in-love-with-his-angry-best-friend Steve complete the mission and win Bucky's heart? (Yes)

The A in Team by orphan_account

Avengers OT6 with asexual Clint. Taking the OT6 from makeouts on the couch to the bedroom hits a snag when the team discovers that Clint is asexual and, while he's a big fan of all the kissing, he's really not interested in sleeping with anyone. The team are determined not to leave him out though - they just need to find something that works for everyone. (Incomplete)

love is for children and other lies by Fahye

War is the child's emptiness, the surrender of identity, the transformation into a simple system: purpose goes in, action comes out. (Natalia Alianovna Romanova, and everything that she became.)

Walking like a man, hitting like a hammer by TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel

"Darcy was convinced it was going to become part of SHIELD’s oral history forever, like that time everyone on this one op was doused with sex pollen and the only one who didn’t screw someone senseless was then not-yet-deputy director Agent Hill, and Robards said it was because she was a frigid lesbian and Hill told him that the term was asexual and if he was going to be a bigoted asshole about it he could at least get her orientation right. And then Coulson made him go through the hardcore diversity and sexual harassment training as punishment, because everyone knew Hill and Coulson were bros." Maria Hill is honestly pretty happy with her life. (Story has been deleted - link via webarchive.org)

Teen Wolf:

The Sum of Its Parts series by KouriArashi

Includes an asexual relationship between Derek and Stiles, with Derek being asexual. While Derek's portrayal at the beginning may suggest he lost interest in sex due to sexual abuse, it is later cleared that he was always asexual.

Doesn't Add Up by Goldenpetal13

Has an asexual Stiles and describes an evolution of his relationship with Derek.

BBC Sherlock:

A Love with No Name series by aceofhearts61

In which asexual Sherlock and straight John are platonically in love life partners.

Inception:

Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Yearning RAs by sevenimpossiblethings

A college AU in which Eames and Arthur are both Resident Advisors, and Arthur is asexual. (Arthur/Eames)

Leading with my heart by acidpop25

Arthur may be asexual, but he and Eames are in love all the same. (Arthur/Eames)

Puzzles by enchantedsleeper

Movie gap-filler which shows the progression of Ariadne and Arthur's relationship throughout the film, and an asexual Arthur grappling with his romantic feelings for Ariadne. (Ariadne/Arthur)

Fullmetal Alchemist:

The Inside of Emptiness by Tierfal

This series features an asexual/demisexual Edward coming to terms with his identity and navigating a romantic relationship as an asexual person (Roy/Ed.) Riza Hawkeye is also depicted as asexual in this universe.

Supernatural:

The water is bluer in dreamscapes by Sa_kun

Dean stops having sex after Hell. Actually, he was never that into it in the first place.

Redemption Arc by galaxysoup

Castiel awakens in a forest with an empty feeling in his chest and a deep sense of dread.

Les Misérables:

Earthquake in Suspension (or, A Love Story in Three Acts) by Kaleran

Prompt: Valjean And Javert Realize They're Ace And/Or Aro, And Everyone Is Accepting, And They Are Happy. On a cool June night on one of the many bridges in Paris, Valjean fractures something in Javert with a simple touch and a soft plea that sends a tremor through his soul. Valjean stubbornly teaches him mercy, kindness, and the language of touch, and Javert is metamorphosed.

A Reflection of Starlight by AutumnGracy

Curiosity causes Valjean to follow Javert to the Seine, and what he sees there changes everything. Now they must struggle to understand one another as their worlds come crashing down around them. A story about compassion, tenderness, and reconciliation. Based entirely on Brick canon.

Benefit of the Touch by Chrissy24601

Valvert pairing where one or both are asexual. Javert has a nightmare after the barricades and Valjean comforts him. Would love a fic with sharing a bed, awkward old virgin cuddling and comfort. Plus if it focuses on Javert being distrustful or even somewhat fearful of the human touch and gradually becoming able to enjoy it.

The Next Step by grlnamedlucifer

Valjean has a feeling Javert's waiting on him to be ready take the next step. The problem being, he's not really sure that's ever going to happen.

BTS:

i need your love before i fall by MiralanaDate: 2018Length: 60kStatus: Complete

Park Jimin isn't asexual. Sure, his boyfriend just broke up with him because he doesn't enjoy having sex with him, but that doesn't mean anything. He's just stressed and it's taking a toll on his body.

Actually, this is a good thing. It finally gives him time to focus on his giant crush on Min Yoongi. Min Yoongi who dates one person after another, who probably has more sex in a month than Jimin could bear having in his whole life.

But that's okay. Because Park Jimin isn't broken. He just hasn't found the right person yet. Right?

take me out (we're going down) by kaythebestDate: 2017Length: 9.6kStatus: Complete

There are a lot of things that Jungkook expected from his junior year of college. General stress. Student debt.

He did not expect to be hit by a car.

It’s going well.

Animash:

no lover. by catbfsFandom: Animash, Balto, The Lion King, The Lady and the TrampDate: July 2, 2019Length: 2 minutes, 4 secondsMedium: fanvid

any other aces feeling invalid in the club tonight??!!!!!! haven't made a personal mash in so long.....feels good

Communities & Resources

• asexual_fandom on Dreamwidth
• asex_sherlock
• asexy_who
• BNHA Ace Exchange, a fandom-specific gift exchange
• BNHA Aro & Ace Week, a fandom-specific fanweek
• BTAce & Aro Spring Fest, a fandom-specific gift exchange
• Recs tagged Asexual & Demisexual Characters at Fancake

Meta & Discussion

• Ramp-Up Essay/Meta/Q&A Session/Rec-List on Asexuality (& Kink) for Kink Bingo, 2011. (Archived version)
• Ramp Up Essay: Being a Kinky Ace for Kink Bingo, 2011. (Archived version)
• Asexuality and Femslash, 2011. (Archived version)
• Some Issues with Asexuality in Fanfic, 2013
• Asexuality in Fandom linkspam, at Asexual Agenda blog, 2017. (Archived version)
• Navigating Fandom As an Asexual on Medium.com, 2018. (Archived version)
• Writing fic as an aroace or aro/ace fic (or with an aspec element to it) it is really frustrating..., 2019. (Archived version)
• This Work Is Tagged Asexual Character: An Analysis of Asexuality in Fanfiction, 2021.
• Shipping While Aspec, "this blog is a safe place for all arospec & acespec folks to rant about the woes of fandom shipping while aspec." (dead link)