Alex: I don’t think being asexual has changed my life or been particularly life changing.
It’s just a part of me and who I am.
[On screen text: LGBTIQA+ Asking about asexuality]
My name is Alex. I am 25. My interests are pretty much anything creative that I can get my hands on.
[On screen text: Alex, 25 they/them]
I think like any ADHD person, I just like grab stuff and I’m like, I’m going to give this a go.
I do a lot of sewing and crafting and creating, and through that, I have made costumes and use them to do charity events and visit kids in hospital or just at home.
Yeah, bring some magic to kids that are struggling.
Obviously, part of the queer community just being a queer person, we all tend to gravitate towards one another, whether consciously or not.
We all end up just hanging out and going, “Oh, there is not a straight person here. Whoops!”
It’s not like I ever had to seek anyone out because we all have had similar experiences in life that kind of lead us to the same places.
I might make a comment to a friend about being ace, and then they’ll be like, Oh, same. And then, you know, you get that sick high five moment.
It’s never been like a conscious choice to need to find ace people to get along with. We just get along.
Non-judgmental communities, they kind of just make you want to be there.
Yeah, I realised when I was about 16 and I went through the pipeline of thinking, am I bisexual? Because I like everyone?
And then realising that I’m in fact asexual because I like everyone, which is to say, not really at all.
Went through a little bit of a crisis, but in like a hang on, I actually need to think about this kind of way and settled on the term and felt like, yeah, it was like the right one for me.
So, it’s been like ten years now and I’m pretty happy with it.
The ‘A’ to be added to the Victorian acronym is, I think, pretty amazing. It’s been part of like the unspoken acronym for I feel like forever. But I feel like also everyone thinks it means allies.
So, I think it’s really important to acknowledge that it’s asexual because I think it is a part of the community that is kind of overlooked sometimes and kind of forgotten about.
It would be just really nice and special to see it acknowledged and remembered that we exist.
Piece of advice for people trying to find their sexual identity or any identity, I think, is that you don’t have to settle in one.
People change. Things change. Beliefs, experiences. Everything changes.
You don’t have to pick one label when you’re a teenager and stick with it for the rest of your life.
You don’t have to pick a label at all.
A person’s identity as who they are as a person shouldn’t be tied to the people they are or aren’t attracted to.
Much like any other sexuality.
Just pick something that you think resonates with you and what you feel is the right one for you.
Beyond that, it doesn’t really matter.
[On screen text: Vic, Subscribe, The Department of Families, Fairness and Housing]
[End of transcript]
Updated