#thnx for comin to my ted talk <3

[stfudiscoinfernoed]

idk how recently you were talking about this but i just saw it on my dash — re: minors identifying as ace. i’m an exclusionist and i totally agree that it’s problematic for children to identify as asexual. BUT i do want to say, as a sex educator who works with youth, it is NORMAL for (some) kids to have sexual feelings and experience sexual attraction, ESPECIALLY when they’re going through puberty (age 10+). to say otherwise creates a lot of shame and stigma for young folks. (1/?)

like when you’re goin thru puberty it’s totally normal to start to develop sexual feelings and attraction and even before puberty a lot of children have curiosity about their bodies and sexuality and that’s okay. i’m not saying it’s healthy for middle schoolers to be HAVING sex, but generally those feelings start to develop around that age. identifying as ace that young becomes problematic when children who are exposed to discourse think they MUST be ace because they’re not READY for sex.. (2/?)

 that was my experience as a horny 15 year old who did not want to date and wasn’t ready for sex. i had sexual feelings but no interest sexually in my peers, and i thought “omg well i guess i’m asexual???? ok.” but i’m not ace and i know that now as an adult. it’s normal for youth to feel sexual but not be ready/interested in sex and that doesn’t make them ace, obvi. okay that’s all thnx for comin to my ted talk (3/3) 

Yeah, I agree. I just think that saying all kids going through puberty are going to a) experience sexual attraction starting early on, b) experience it in a way that an adult does, and c) understand that what they are feeling is sexual attraction and if they don’t they must be ace is bs (if it was easy it wouldn’t take many lgb people so long to figure out they are lgb).

A 16-year-old going “I might be ace” is one thing, because hey! they might be, but its another for them to then form an entire identity around it when developmentally speaking they’ve got years to develop attraction. That’s not even to mention all the factors that come in that might delay this process or make it difficult for someone to experience sexual attraction.

[your-jellyfish-senpai]

ok god fine ur gonna know who this is but in the spirit of things: theyre smart n funny n cute and can make me smile even when ive been having a bad day and i love talking to them and i just called them spontaneously and left a voice mail that was an Awkward Mess and i felt my face getting hot the more i babbled bc doing spontaneous things is hard for me n also u can @ them if u want their url is quarianmechanist n now u kno who this is. thnx for comin to my ted talk

1. this is adorable

2. you’re adorable

3. proud of you for bein spontaneous DAMN

4. @quarianmechanist this is for you

Tell me about your crush on anon~

#anon crushes #anon #quarianmechanist #fun fact i couldn't actually tag them lmfao #i wont reveal ur identity anon but ur cute my friend