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5.0 AVERAGE
5.0 AVERAGE
Nothing Wanting is the latest in dense, asexual theory written (mostly) for the academy, but full of interesting bits and bobs for the lay reader who is willing to dive into it. Authored by KJ Cerankowski, a professor at Oberlin and longtime asexual studies contributor (see Asexualities), Nothing Wanting is an exploration of "silences, nothings, and emptiness" and what asexuality has to say about them.
Nothing Wanting is dense and thoughtful, full of allusions to art and movies, filled with postulations about what absence means, what asexuality means. It is split into 7 chapters, one of which (interestingly) consists entirely of footnotes in the back of the book. Cerankowski is unafraid to play with the literal structures and spaces of the book or to call out early reviewers of the piece for not understanding his intentions. Like all of the best asexual theory, Cerankowski is not preoccupied with gatekeeping asexuality and is more interested in letting it ooze and ebb wherever it's most useful.
Rather than attempt to summarize each chapter, I'll provide some of my favorite quotes (just from the intro!)
Nothing Wanting is dense and thoughtful, full of allusions to art and movies, filled with postulations about what absence means, what asexuality means. It is split into 7 chapters, one of which (interestingly) consists entirely of footnotes in the back of the book. Cerankowski is unafraid to play with the literal structures and spaces of the book or to call out early reviewers of the piece for not understanding his intentions. Like all of the best asexual theory, Cerankowski is not preoccupied with gatekeeping asexuality and is more interested in letting it ooze and ebb wherever it's most useful.
Rather than attempt to summarize each chapter, I'll provide some of my favorite quotes (just from the intro!)
- " I am also concerned about the ways in which absences of sex get reduced to other absences as well: no sex = no pleasure, no sex = no romance, no sex = no love”
- “To prefer not to is still to prefer. To want nothing is still to want. To not desire sex is not to not desire at all or to desire nothing. Put another way, to desire no sex is still to desire”
- “Whereas many understand asexuality as a restriction, like a diet, a removal of something— sex— from one’s life, I understand asexuality as expansive, bringing awareness to flavors one might not have otherwise known existed.”
I loved it, but I am starving for asexual queer theory. For anyone unafraid of dense prose who feels the power of voids.