A review by bonriki
Ace Voices: What it Means to Be Asexual, Aromantic, Demi or Grey-Ace by Eris Young

informative slow-paced

3.0

I picked this book up after reading Ace by Angela Chen. As a queer allo person, it’s important for me to understand and respect the ace community so I’ve been doing my best to educate myself. Ace Voices is an exploration about what it means to be asexual, how asexuality intersects with other aspects of a person like race or gender, and how it can shape relationships. The book dives into some topics that may be overlooked in other works like microlabels, intersections with other queer identities, and mental illness, disability, and neurodivergence. 

This book includes quotes from a diverse group of ace people who articulate in their own words how their asexuality has shaped their experiences and the author liberally includes those quotes when writing on different topics. That inclusion allows this book to accurately reflect the experiences of the people being discussed and present a kaleidoscope of sometimes contradictory perspectives. Being able to see experiences articulated different ways helped me to gain a deeper, more nuanced understanding of peoples’ lives experiences.

On the other hand, none of these topics were new to me and the book was a bit drier and a more academic counterpart to Chen’s Ace. At times the book can be difficult to engage with as there is a remove between the author and the interviewees. That remove can make it feel less like a conversation with the community and more like researcher speaking about their subject of focus. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings