Time to read: 7 minutes
This is a detailed yet incomplete timeline of events and contexts relevant to fanfiction, sexuality, and scholarly interest in both. As Brown (2022) notes, there is a long history of writings on asexuality through the concepts of “sexual disinterest, undesire, indifference, neutrality, apathy, and aversion, situated firmly outside normative understandings of and permissions for sexual expression” (p. 152). Though Brown has entries dating back to 1855, I will relay only a small selection of these and other events to show how fanfiction, aromanticism, and asexuality have coexisted.
Note: These entries are largely limited to the United States, though this is not to discount the importance of fandom, activism, and media portrayals of aromanticism and asexuality in other countries.
1948 and 1953: Kinsey and Group X
Kinsey develops the Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scale, now known as the Kinsey scale. During this time, the Kinsey scale acknowledged asexuality with the label “X” meaning people who “do not respond erotically to either heterosexual or homosexual stimuli, and do not have overt physical contact with individuals of either sex in which there is evidence of any response” (Kinsey et al., 1952, p. 472). However, this model is insufficient because it positions asexuality as an anomaly outside of hetero-homosexual desire (Kim, 2014, p. 266).
1960s: Star Trek and Sci-Fi Fandom
Sci-fi fandom was not a space where women could be found; before Star Trek, sci-fi fandom was 90% male (Russ, 2014, p. 82). But then women latched onto Kirk/Spock through fanzines like Spockanalia and conventions into the 70s and 80s. Then they continued into online spaces in the 90s which rapidly evolved into the fanfiction culture we know today.
1980: Michael Storms publishes “Theories of Sexual Orientation”
Storms modifies the Kinsey Scale into a quadrant system which include heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, and asexuality.
(p. 784) 1998: FanFiction.net (FFN) Goes Online
Though popular throughout the 2000s before the advent of AO3, its popularity waned because it did not serve its users as they wanted to be served. It went through multiple purges of sexually explicit fanfic, as was also the case with LiveJournal and Strikethrough 2007 (De Kosnik, 2016, p. 132).
2004: Anthony Bogaert publishes “Asexuality: Prevalence and associated factors in a national probability sample”
Using a British national study, Bogaert estimated that 1% of the population is asexual. This statistic has been popularized because of its memorability (Bogaert, 2004).
2006: AVEN Website Launch
AVEN Homepage In an interview with The Atlantic, David Jay says the website’s entry onto the internet hit at the perfect time for “hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands of people who felt alienated from the sexual stories and imagery that dominate our culture.”
January 15, 2006: David Jay Appears on The View
Note: More asexuality media appearances can be found on the YouTube channel Asexual Media Archives. David Jay and other AVEN members appeared on shows like 20/20, Tucker Carlson, Fox New Dayside, CNN Showbiz Tonight, and Montel Williams throughout 2006.
2007: Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) Founded
Following the mistreatment of fans and corporate attempts to monetize fanfiction, fans rallied to create the OTW, “a nonprofit organization established by fans to serve the interests of fans by providing access to and preserving the history of fanworks and fan culture in its myriad forms” (“What We Believe”). “The OTW and AO3 were specifically structured so that fans would have greater control over, and input into, their archives than FF.net and other archives have allowed” (De Kosnik, 2017, p. 345).
2008: Gerald Tippett on Shortland Street (1992-present)
Gerald Tippett comes out as asexual. Check out this YouTube playlist of the asexuality storyline in New Zealand’s Shortland Street.
November 2009: Archive of Our Own (AO3 ) Comes Out of Closed Beta
Whereas FanFiction.net is for-profit, AO3 is a non-profit run by fans, for fans with the intent of a true archive that does not censor or delete any works (De Kosnik, 2017, p. 93). AO3 is now the most popular fanfiction website.
July 2010- January 2017: BBC’s Sherlock (2010-2017)
One of the many fanon interpretations of Sherlock Holmes is that he is asexual [and aromantic], though this interpretation can at times clash with other ships like John Watson/Sherlock Holmes.
2010: First Asexual Awareness Week
Ace Week logo “When Ace Week founder Sara Beth Brooks discovered asexuality and realized that it was something she identified with, she aspired to use her organizational skills and activism experience to support the ace community. She solicited the help of AVEN founder David Jay, and together, they aimed to gain the attention of some major organizations, such as the National LGBTQ Task Force and the UN Human Rights Council” (“The History of Ace Week“).
September 2011: Castiel’s Revelation on Supernatural
S7E1 “Meet the New Boss” Westberg Gabriel describes how Castiel’s revelation of being “utterly indifferent to sexual orientation” could be a contributor to the boost in asexual-themed fanfiction in 2011 (2018, p. 36). Additionally, asexual slashfic was concentrated in Supernatural, Sherlock, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe—particularly Clint Barton/Phil Coulson and Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes (p. 38).
January 2012: House on Asexuality
S8E9 “Better Half” Dr. House portrays asexuality as an illness to be cured.
February 25, 2012: David Jay Interview with The Guardian
In an interview with Rosie Swash of The Guardian, David Jay reveals that he believes the asexuality movement is in its third phase.
- Phase 1: Began in the 2000s and was about saying what asexuality is and what it is not
- Phase 2: Mobilization. Spreading the word of asexuality through media appearances.
- Phase 3: Challenging societal beliefs about what a normal sex drive is.
However, I would say that this third phase has not yet been reached, and that we are still in phase one. Especially since knowledge of aromanticism, and amatonormativity, should coincide with asexuality considering how much society connects romance and sex. Aromanticism deserves the same courtesy and recognition that asexuality has received thus far before the asexuality movement can truly progress.
2013: DSM-5 Revised
Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder (HSDD) was indexed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in differing terminology from 1980 until its revision in 2013. It requires an element of personal distress related to the lack of sexual desire. However, the inclusion of sexual desire in the DSM assumes that there is some normal level of sexual desire; and asexual people seeking guidance from a clinician could have been diagnosed with HSDD without recognition of asexuality as a sexual orientation (Prause and Graham, 2007, p. 341).
2019: AUREA Website Launch
AUREA Homepage The Aromantic-spectrum Union for Recognition, Education, and Advocacy (AUREA) was established to promote aromantic voices. “Like any good origin story, AUREA began with a burst of proactivity. Many aromantics have personal blogs, but the lack of response and traction our thoughts receive have made us feel as though we exist in [a] vacuum. It was a thought provoking post from one such personal blog that launched this organization. I see a need, we read. We could do this, we thought.” (“An Introduction to AUREA”)
April 6, 2021: First International Asexuality Day
IAD logo “The day is designed to complement other ace events like Ace Week (the last week in October), but with a special emphasis on the international community, going beyond the anglophone and Western sphere that has so far had the most coverage. The day can also serve as a focal point for giving asexuality some visibility in the first half of the year, useful for countries for which the end of October (Ace Week) is a difficult time of year for ace advocacy” (IAD “FAQ”).
2022: Aro/Ace Fan Works on AO3
In 2018, Westberg Gabriel traced the rise of asexual fan works on AO3 from 2000-2016. Her data was collected by identifying works tagged with asexuality, however the data I collected differs slightly. I chose works now tagged under Asexuality Spectrum—a metatag with subtags related to asexuality, demisexuality, and graysexuality— and Aromantic. Aromantic Spectrum, and other related aromantic tags, are not yet able to be filtered upon.
These fanfictions combine to account for a whopping 0.4% of all fanfiction on AO3 with the caveat being that not all works with these themes are tagged nor are all user-created tags catalogued by AO3’s tag wranglers.
Aromanticism & Asexuality in Fanfiction Writing 