There are some people within our community who are prone to kicking off about asexual people being included within the LGBTQ+ universe. As a matter of convention, we don’t use the longer form of the initialism which includes the ‘A’ for asexual – that’s what the plus is for – but asexual people are not, by definition, straight, so we want to make it clear that members of the ace community are more than welcome here.
Which leads us on to the award-winning author Elizabeth Hopkinson, who has launched a Kickstarter campaign to help publish her third book of asexual fairy tales.
Visibility
As the battle to end conversion therapy rages, and Stonewall launches its groundbreaking Ace Project, Elizabeth is expressing ace visibility in her own way – through fairytales.
“These stories are very personal to me,” she says. “I’m a heteroromantic apothisexual. I’m also kind of greygender, in a way I don’t fully understand: I see that as part of my asexual identity.
“I was a late bloomer as far as identity is concerned. I didn’t identify as asexual until my late 30s; I didn’t have the words. In the early 90s, when I left school, no one was talking about asexuality. But I saw something I recognised in tales like ‘The Glass Coffin’ (Brothers Grimm) and the myth of Daphne. You can see ace representation in some of these traditional stories. Our ancestors were much wiser than us. You see a lot of recurring motifs: Glass coffins, enchanted sleeps, women in towers, marble statues, mirrors, pearls. You think, “Aha! This looks ace.” That’s why I decided to start writing asexual fairy tales.
Amazing feedback
Friend of OutNewsGlobal Jason Guy, director of Manchester’s Gay Pride Shop, commented: “We always have a huge demand for asexual themed books, but sadly there’s just not that many good titles around at the moment. Both Asexual Myths & Fairy Tales and Asexual Fairy Tales by Elizabeth Hopkinson sell really well for us and we’ve had amazing feedback from our customer for both of them. We literally can’t wait to read the latest Ace stories from Elizabeth.”
Mairi Oliver, owner of Edinburgh’s Lighthouse bookshop, added: “We are SO excited to hear of a new collection of Asexual Tales from Elizabeth – the first two have been a huge success for the bookshop. When there is still so little asexual representation in print it’s really thrilling as booksellers to be able to offer brilliantly written and produced titles offering just that to our readers – we will always welcome more!”
Visit Elizabeth online here.
Watch Rob Harkavy in conversation with lesbian author and comedian Rosie Wilby.
