Two Asexual Awareness Week (AAW) events took place at the University of Toronto last week for the first time. 

AAW was founded in 2010 as a call to action for asexual people to educate their communities about asexuality and related sexual orientations. 

Asexuality is the sexual orientation of those who experience little to no sexual attraction or sexual desire. 

Members of the asexual community sometimes refer to themselves as ‘ace’, an umbrella term that denotes a sexual orientation towards the asexual end of the sexuality spectrum. 

Kicking off the week, Woodsworth Inclusive (WiNC) and Rainbow Trinity co-hosted a social for ace and allied students. 

Around 20 people attended the October 27 event held in the Waters Lounge of Woodsworth College.

“It’s important to have Asexual Awareness Week events on campus both to spread awareness of such an unknown orientation, and to provide support and acceptance for asexuals who may not easily find it elsewhere,” said Brian Langevin, co-vice president of WiNC and co-director of non-profit organization Asexual Outreach. 

Noting the lack of ace-focused events at university campues, Langevin said that he would like to see AAW events spread to campuses worldwide. 

“With Asexual Awareness Week events starting only this year at U of T, it’s not difficult to imagine a lack of events on other campuses, and that is something we will hopefully work to correct,” he said.

The following day, Ace Toronto, a local meet-up for ace people and asexuals in the Toronto region, ran a workshop at the U of T Grad Room designed to provide basic education on asexuality. 

Ace Toronto serves to connect ace people and collaborate on ace projects. This is often done through social events, asexuality-themed discussions, and public educations sessions. 

“There needs to be more available information about asexuality and more community connections available,” said CJ Chasin, founder of Ace Toronto.

Chasin emphasized that LGBTTIQQ2SA (hereafter referred to as LGBTQ) spaces should be more informed about asexuality, as it is not always accepted in the LGBTQ community.

The workshop included a 101-style presentation that covered the terminology of ace orientations and intersecting identities, a group discussion activity, and a question period. The presentation explained that anyone, regardless of romantic orientation, race, class, ability, and gender identity can be asexual. According to the presentation, one in five asexuals are trans, gender variant, or non-binary.

A frequently misunderstood aspect of asexuality is the way in which ace people form relationships. Chasin clarified that aces participate in relationships with their friends, families, and communities.

They may also participate in romantic relationships, and intense non-normative relationships such as queerplatonic relationships. 

Queerplatonic relationships are not romantic relationships but cannot be adequately expressed as a friendship. 

Chasin illustrated the concept of queerplatonic relationships using examples from popular television such as Corey and Shawn from Boy Meets World, or Torres and Sloan from Grey’s Anatomy.

WiNC and Rainbow Trinity are planning to co-host another ace-specific event next semester.