Social Construction of Sexuality

Last updated: June 6, 2022

This list is aimed for feminist or sexuality studies courses which deal with different academic approaches to understanding sexuality, and is assumed to be concomitant with discussing Gayle Rubin or Foucault. The guiding idea here is to expose students to asexual thought as it continues, and expands upon, existing social construction theories.

Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex	Journalistic book	Topics: Personal experiences, lived experience, intersectionality, feminisms Rating: A+ Length: 224 pages Citation: Chen, Angela. (2020). Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex. Beacon Press. Print.
Compulsory Sexuality: Evaluating an Emerging Concept	Academic review	Topics: Asexuality studies, acephobia, community history, compulsory sexuality, definitions Rating: A Length: 18 pages Citation: Gupta, Kristina. (2015). Compulsory Sexuality: Evaluating an Emerging Concept. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, vol. 41, no. 1. 131-154.
Hermeneutical Injustice in Consent and Asexuality	Blog post	Topics: Compulsory sexuality, journey of identification, consent, agency, epistemic injustice, politics Rating: A* Length: webpage Citation: @starchythoughts. (2016). Hermeneutical Injustice in Consent and Asexuality. Tumblr.
Under Duress: Agency, Power, and Consent, Part Two: "Yes"	Blog essay	Topics: Consent, agency, feminism, rape Rating: A* Length: webpage Citation: Lisa. (2012). Under Duress: Agency, Power, and Consent, Part Two: "Yes." A Radical Transfeminist. Wordpress.
Your Sex Is Not Radical	Blog essay	Topics: Queer politics, family, capitalism, assimilationism, conservatism Rating: B Length: webpage Citation: Nair, Yasmin. (2015). Your Sex Is Not Radical. Self-published.
Coming to an Asexual Identity: Negotiating Identity, Negotiating Desire	Academic research paper	Topics: Historiography, ace identity, queer studies, defining sexuality, romantic attraction Rating: B+ Length: 18 pages Citation: Scherrer, Kristin S. (2008). Coming to an Asexual Identity: Negotiating Identity, Negotiating Desire. Sexualities, vol. 11, no. 5, 621–641.
A Matter of Choice: The Politics of Choosing an (A)sexual Identity	Academic essay	Topics: Asexual history, identity labels, essentialism, queer politics Rating: S Length: 8 pages Citation: Kurowicka, Anna. n.d. A Matter of Choice: The Politics of Choosing an (A)sexual Identity. Self-published.
Asexuality: From Pathology to Identity and Beyond	Academic review	Topics: Ace studies, identity, asexual history, acephobia, queer studies Rating: S* Length: 11 pages Citation: Gressgård, Randi. (2013). Asexuality: From Pathology to Identity and Beyond. Psychology & Sexuality, vol. 4, no. 2, 179-192.