
Ace Theory
Description
Current opinion always holds asexuality to be invisible. Hence the notion of a happy, gentle, jubilant asexuality is never to be found in any text. Where are we to read it, then?
In this revelatory essay-in-fragments, critically acclaimed poet Ryan Fitzpatrick works through the ways in which they have interfaced with a sexual world as an asexual person. Often defined as the orientation of those who don't experience sexual attraction, asexuality is tied to a shared logic wherein our lives are shaped by sex, by romance, by economic and social pressures that determine what a good life looks like.
Leaping from the eureka-moment of finding the right words to name an unnameable experience, Ace Theory upends rigid definitions by turning over the pieces of a supposedly broken life. Through intellectual analysis, cultural criticism, and personal reflection, Fitzpatrick tangles with the trenchant knot of compulsory sexuality, putting a squeeze on the many pressures that make asexual people feel like they simply don't fit.
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Person
RYAN FITZPATRICK is the author of five poetry books, including No Depression in Heaven and Sunny Ways. The 2024-2025 writer-in-residence at the University of Alberta's Department of English and Film Studies, they currently live in Calgary.