Discussion Group Notes 1/9/16

These are notes from the Seattle and Surrounding Aces Discussion Group meeting of January 9th, 2016. These are notes about what we talked about, relevant links, and other information about discussion topics. This is not meant to be a transcript and is not necessarily even meant to be a coherent recounting of the discussion.

Privacy of group members and keeping that room a safe and open place is important to me. I will try my best to not post personal information or individual stories without permission. If I write something that you’d rather not have on here, please let me know immediately and I will remove it.

Meetup Changes

Since we’re growing and the room in the basement can get cramped and hot, and since there are accessibility issues with the basement room, we might be moving to the auditorium upstairs!  Changing rooms may require changing meeting days, though.  If any changes are made, they’ll be announced.

Seattle Aces Website

SeattleAces.org : You’re looking at it!

This website is meant to be a public face to our group.  A way to say “We are here!” to the world.  Meetups will still be organized in the group on meetup.com, and this site will point people there.  The site is under construction, so if you have any suggestions, let me know!

There is also a new Facebook group for Seattle Aces. Stop by and say hello!

Going forward, I’d also like to try and build a Northwest Aces group, so we can reach out and start collaborating with other ace groups in the region.  There’s a Facebook group for that, too.  (I’ve also registered “NorthwestAces.org“, but right now it just redirects to the Seattle site.)

Pride Parade

Let’s make it happen this year!

If you’re interested in marching, check out the Meetup discussion for the parade.

If you’re interested in helping to plan, check out the Meetup discussion for the parade.

If you have fundraising ideas, check out the Meetup discussion for the parade.

Basically, check out the Meetup discussion for the parade.

Things that were mentioned today that we’d need:

• $500+ entrance fee.
• T-Shirts!
• Lots of people to march.
• People to plan and make it happen.

We also talked about the possibility of trying to collaborate with other groups in the area, and set up a sort of marcher exchange program.  For example, we could send a few people to Portland, and Portland could send people here, and we all march in each other’s parades.  Anyone know anyone in the PDX group?

KUOW Trans Bathroom Thing

Here’s the segment, if you’re interested.

And the Gender Justice League.

Advocacy Groups or Support Services?

After the meeting, I got to thinking.  We spent a fair bit of time talking about advocacy groups related to trans issues, but does anyone know of any advocacy groups or support services in the area that are or should be are aware of ace issues?  Maybe we should start reaching out to some local groups and start to provide resources to them.

CDC Study

The CDC recently released the analysis of a survey about sexual attraction and orientation.  This survey is notable for completely failing to mention asexuality in any way.

The orientation question was multiple choice and only allowed Straight, Gay, Bi, or Decline To Respond as answers.  The attraction question assumed attraction to males, females, or both, and had an “unsure” option, but no “no attraction” option.

Previous versions of the survey did include an “other” option for these questions, but it was removed in 2008.

You can read the report here:  http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr088.pdf

And here’s some commentary, including an open letter from the leader of the New York City Ace Group:  http://wildasexuals.tumblr.com/post/136821002195/nhsr-88-and-asexuality

Relationships

There’s going to be a Relationships meetup!  Check it out if you’re interested!

Several people talked about the difficulty of being ace in a relationship, but not having discovered asexuality yet.  They mentioned trying desperately to “fix” things that weren’t actually broken.  “Have more sex!”  “Have different sex!”  “Have wild sex!”

The media always talks about how sex stops after getting married or after having a kid, so many asexual people who haven’t discovered asexuality yet might feel that their lack of interest is just a normal relationship progression and not have a problem with it.  However, their non-ace partner might have a problem with it, and feel that a lack of sexual attention means a lack of love.

Awareness that one member in a relationship is asexual might help, but it’s not a guarantee.  All relationships take dedication and effort and require compromise, and there are countless issues that may arise that have absolutely nothing to do with sex or sexuality.

AVEN has a “For Sexual Partners, Friends, and Allies” board that may be helpful to people in a mixed relationship.

Discovering the Term

We talked about how we discovered asexuality.

For some people, a friend mentioned it to them.  For others, they struggled for years, feeling lost and broken.  Some came to the term on their own.  Others found it through Tumblr or other social media.

Creating Meetups

If there’s a specific topic you want to talk about, create a meetup!

If you want to try to get a group together closer to where you live, create a meetup!

All you have to do is go to the group on Meetup.com, click “Schedule a new meetup”, and fill in the details.

Other Bits

Wolf eels!

Dan Savage and his “why would you even contemplate inflicting yourself on a normally sexual person” line.  (Note that’s from 2011.  He’s been less of an ace-hating asshole lately.)