Navigating layered and dual-sourced stigmatization: Experiences of asexuality using stigma management strategies

Abstract

Individuals who are asexual often face stigmatization for being neither allosexual nor conforming to the normative sexual binary of heterosexuality and homosexuality. Drawing on interviews with 22 self-identified asexual individuals, we highlight the ways asexual people experience layered and dual-sourced stigmatization. Furthermore, we demonstrate how asexual individuals employ stigma management strategies of information control and techniques of passing to navigate the impacts of their stigmatization. We contend that sexusociety situates asexual individuals as non-normative and points to the sustained dominance of allonormative ideals in the theorizing and understanding of sexuality more broadly, which suggests stigmatization acts within a hierarchy of sexuality. Our work adds theoretical complexity to the understanding of sexual identity in today’s world by problematizing asexual individuals’ experiences with both layered and dual-sourced stigma.