Because in the darkness

Remember the virgin joke post? I had hoped that was going to be the end of this topic, but unfortunately, it wasn't.

My family got around to S4E11, which mostly is not about this issue. Thorfinn attends a therapy session to address the abandonment he still struggled with on the anniversary of him being left behind in the New World (and this episode is about him moving on, whatever), and the ending was a bunch of the rest of the ghosts chiming in within a group ghost therapy session.

Sass' contribution: I'm a virgin.

Sam has to pretend she's got all of their issues going on in order to voice them, so the therapist looks a bit confused as he answers: Aren't you married?

Sam: Yeah, isn't that weird?

...

I don't even know how to convey the internal sigh, glare, disappointment mashup going on. The therapist's disbelief that a married woman might be a virgin. The deflection as Sam tries to come up with a non-ghost answer that goes for how weird that idea is. It was one of the ending contributions, so it feels like the last bit of humor getting in at the very end of the episode. (So, more 'the funny thing to focus on is an adult virgin' going on.)

While virgin doesn't equal ace necessarily, it feels like this is a world that doesn't have any awareness of asexuality. Granted, there's a possibility that this may come up in future episodes, but currently, there haven't been any signs of awareness. I know this is a 30-minute comedy show once a week, and it's not trying to be a sweeping educational show here. Still, after spending some time on Isaac coming to terms with attitudes around homosexuality changing from his lifetime [1770s] and coming out, a part of me wishes that someone could nod to the ace community in some way.

I can't remember exactly how I found myself looking at the Ace Tropes series on The Asexual Agenda, but I kept a link for 'Ace Tropes: Cis-ace & Trans-allo' in a draft because I've got a WIP featuring this.

{Heads up: Yeah, I know that shit's gone past a tipping point regarding JKR's slide into TERF tweeting this summer. As a trans fan, I've seen other trans fans point out her Twitter sliding in that direction before 2020, but I've made the decision to keep going with writing HP fanfic. I appreciate leaving JKR out of any comments on this particular post.}

First, the Cis-ace & Trans-allo trope:

Many (though not all) of the stories which use the cis-ace/trans-allo trope contain problematic ace representation and/or problematic trans representation. For example, most of the cis-aces are presented as being completely flawless in how they handle trans issues, and the trans allos are usually presented as being just as flawless in handling asexuality.

In particular, the trans character will often allo savior the ace character and/or the ace character will cis savior the trans character [...] Sometimes the trans character even reads like a Magical Queer.

Also, the ace character will often have no contact with other aces, and the trans character will often have no contact with other trans people. The ace character not having contact with other aces can often be justified, but trans readers tend to find it implausible that a trans character would not know other trans people.

( Some fic details. )

( Expanding on the fic in relation to the trope. )

( Some thoughts on how to fix stuff. )


( Notes )