At the start of 2009 I began a mixed methods research project exploring asexuality and asexual identity. It involved 8 in depth interview, 174 open ended surveys and a large scale thematic analysis of asexual websites, forums and blogs. My first paper, forthcoming in Sexualities, attempts to explain the the similarities and differences within the asexual community. Behind a common ‘umbrella’ definition of the term asexual lies a diverse range of orientations and self-understandings. I attempt to explain what unites asexuals and what divides them, while also explaining what asexuality means in the terms of self-defined asexuals. The ambitions of this paper are, in a sense, very limited because I would argue that any sociological inquiry must be predicated on a clear definition of the topic under investigation. With a topic such as sexual identity this necessitates giving an account of the the lived experience of the group in question in the descriptions under which they understand and articulate their own experience.
My second paper explores the opportunities and challenges asexuals find in an intensely sexual social world. It also looks at the agential capacities they bring to bear on the conundrums this world poses for them. I pay particular attention to their experiences with relationships, particularly with partners who are not asexual. In this paper I sketch out my notion of the ‘sexual assumption”: the widespread presupposition that sexual desire is both universal and uniform. I argue that asexuality constitutes an empirical refutation of the former and provides grounds for interrogating the latter.
My third paper investigates the crucial role which the internet has played in the emergence of the asexual community. It uses my data as a case study through which to explore the general impact which the internet is having on both culture and identity. I use the work of Margaret Archer on culture as an analytical resource to sketch out dimensions of internet-led cultural change which are often conflated before using my data as a basis for exploring the ramifications of these changes for personal and social identity.
My fourth paper articulates the idea of the sexual assumption in terms of the social and cultural changes which underlie the emergence of the asexual identity. I argue that asexuality provides a crucial starting point from which we can understand the conceptual and emotional ramifications of the transformation of sexuality and intimacy taking place under conditions of late modernity. I argue that asexuality is a product of much wider changes in our intimate and personal lives but that these changes can’t be properly understood without taking asexuality into account. Furthermore I suggest that asexuality poses extremely important conceptual and methodological questions for the study of sexuality & intimacy more broadly. After my PhD I intend to pursue these themes in greater depth: though I’m not yet in a position to substantiate this claim empirically, I would argue that the sexual assumption (as a taken for granted background feature of social life) pervades the study of sexuality more widely and that this poses a great challenge to attempts to understand the subjective richness of human intimacy. I intend to write a critical intellectual history of the study of sexuality, involving close textual engagements with the most influential texts in the field.
I am undertaking three major publishing projects which aim to draw together the diverse range of asexuality research being conducted into a self-aware sub discipline with an orientation outwards towards the radical implications its output holds for the wider study of sexuality and intimacy. I am leading a team of guest editors for a special theme issue of the journal Psychology & Sexuality and am producing an edited book Asexuality Studies: both are due out in 2012. I am in the early stages of writing a monograph on asexuality (There’s More To Life Than Sex? Asexuality, desire and late capitalism) which explores a/sexuality and intimacy within contemporary society in terms of a much wider literature on late capitalism, late modernity and detraditionalization.
While researching asexuality I have also been pursuing a variety of public engagement projects with the intention of raising the profile of asexuality in wider society. I have talked about asexuality in the Times, Foreplay Magazine and the Coventry Telegraph. I have also discussed my research on BBC Coventry & Warwickshire. I conduct educational workshops on asexuality and have developed educational resources and training materials to allow others to conduct their own workshops. I am co-curating an exhibition on asexuality with the photographer Holly Falconer about a/sexuality and identity, as well as helping the director Laura Williams produce a series of documentary films about asexuality.
I also maintain the Asexuality Studies website which hosts the Asexuality Studies mailing list.
