Hello all! I enjoyed hosting the March 2016 Carnival of Aces so much that I decided to do it again!
For those that don’t know, a blogging carnival is an online event where a host blog suggests a theme, and people submit pieces based around that theme.
The Carnival of Aces is a monthly blogging carnival that was started all the way back in 2011, and is currently run by the awesome ace resource The Asexual Agenda. For more information check out the Carnival of Aces Masterpost.
Last month’s Carnival was hosted by This Too Shall Eventually Pass / a little careless with her words, with the theme “Make ’em laugh”. Go read the post round-up!
For this month, I’ve chosen the theme of “naming it”. I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about the importance of having words to describe our experiences and feelings and selves, and for me they are particularly applicable to asexual communities and asexuality generally. We have collectively come up with and honed so many new words for concepts that often simply aren’t considered or discussed outside of asexual circles (from the incredibly list of orientations that exist under the ace umbrella, to recognizing and naming the different kinds of attraction,, and I wanted to take a moment to celebrate that work.
Some potential post ideas around this theme:
- What did it feel like when you first found a word that helped you name your experience as an asexual (or wherever you fall on the ace spectrum)? What was the word? Do you remember when you first encountered it?
- What concepts have you been surprised to see named in asexual communities? What concepts have challenged you personally, and what concepts have helped you grow?
- Are there any words, models, or concepts you’ve seen in ace communities that are problematic or that you think are simply useless? What concepts or words do you struggle to understand?
- Alternatively, are there any experiences/ideas/concepts you have trouble talking about or naming, that you feel like there aren’t any words for yet? Try and give these ideas a name if you feel up to it, or just describe them if you don’t.
- Or, as always, please feel free to write about anything else that this theme inspires you to think about
I’m excited to see what you all have to say!
Ways you can submit:
- Post a comment here with a link to your submission
- Email me: valprehension@gmail.com – either send a link to the post on your blog, or if you prefer not to post on your own blog, you can send me a guest post to go up on Valprehension.
Valprehension 
I enjoyed hosting the Carnival of Aces enough to actually do it three times, haha. ;) I’m glad to see you hosting it again.
I look forward to seeing what responses you get for this theme!
I think I’ve been needing something like this “Naming It” theme to help me organize and channel my thoughts about a few interrelated topics that have been on my mind for months now, so thank you! Now I suddenly have some inspiration for how I will actually start writing about these things. :D
Oh yay! So glad I could help, and excited to read your submissions :)
I’m so glad asexuality is getting more attention and that people are writing about their experiences more openly. I was well into my 20s before I even realized it was a thing. I have a friend who’s ace and even he had trouble describing his experiences until he was well into adulthood; I didn’t fully comprehend him until I met an ace person in graduate school. Then I began to listen to her, and read about it, and realized…okay, this is just another point on the spectrum of lots of different identities. It helped me to reassure my friend that I understand that nothing is wrong with him. He’s okay now, and I get it now, but I know there was a time when he didn’t understand why he is the way he is. And neither did a lot of his friends, so we weren’t much help during the time when he really could have used that sort of support. I think he was embarrassed about it for a long time, and feigned interest in things he had no interest in…and that’s no good. I feel bad that he went through that, and that I likely hindered his self-acceptance more than helped until I finally woke up and got educated.
Anyway, on a ligher note, Happy hosting! :-)
Hey! Just posted my submission here: http://aceadvice.tumblr.com/post/148421808536/naming-it-how-identifying-as-asexual-changed-my
Love this topic! Thanks for hosting!
Hello! I have a submission for the Carnival of Aces. thank you! https://acubedblog.wordpress.com/2016/08/05/carnival-of-aces-august-2016-naming-it/
Here’s my contribution! https://aceyinspace.tumblr.com/post/148893851984/the-importance-of-labels-in-the-asexual-community
Here is my submission:
:)
Here’s my submission:
Love the topic! It’s really nice to write about the asexual side of my identity again- thanks for nudging me to do it!
Hi! First time submitting. Here’s my submission:
https://yoonede.wordpress.com/2016/04/07/how-words-can-heal-why-i-needed-asexuality-awareness/
I see you have the Pingback already but here’s my first submission for the Carnival! https://luvtheheaven.wordpress.com/2016/08/30/when-someone-learns-a-word-but-it-will-take-a-lot-for-them-to-grasp-the-concept-it-describes/ I plan to likely write one other post within the next 24 hours – I have already got a partial draft of it – but we shall see if I finish it in time? I also could change my mind and actually write two other posts, but that seems less likely given the current date. :P
I have written the contribution Naming and DIscovering New Categories:
Hey Kasey. ;) You accidentally have a typo in the title of the first post of mine in the round-up – you wrote “Bit” instead of “But”.
Here’s my second submission. Sorry it’s late! https://luvtheheaven.wordpress.com/2016/09/01/why-romantic-orientation-does-not-apply-does-not-cut-it-for-me/
I actually have a short third post to submit too about shipping and fandom etc. We will see when I finish it. I am… a slow writer at times.