question for my fellow ace tooters, since there seems to be a bunch on mastodon!
Do you describe yourself as "X% asexual"? Has the number you use changed much over time?
@leafnoodle I've never met anyone who describes their asexuality with a percentage-- most seem to use asexual paired with demisexual or other more descriptive terms that better reflect the pre-requisite conditions of any potential sexual interest.
I do know a few folks who identify in variations of "somewhat asexual," though. After all, asexual doesn't always mean "Never has sex" or "is never interested in/willing to have sex," though that is frequently assumed to be the case.
ace, identity
@leafnoodle Isn't that kind of invalidating to the majority of us who use the title somewhat flexibly? Every definition of asexual I've seen leaves room for some sexual interest.
I get that it's hard to explain to those not in the know, but by using a percentage like that to specify your level of interest, it reinforces the incorrect (and sometimes harmful!) social perception that those who identify as asexual are never interested in sex.
ace, identity
@mawr a little bit, perhaps? I think with pretty much all kinds of identity, there's a degree of rounding off to the closest words; any short description is always going to be inaccurate.
I don't think I've ever described ace to an unfamiliar person and *not* had to immediately correct for their assumption that it was a totally off/on thing...so IMO that's just something that happens anyway. (certainly with you on it being harmful though!)
ace, identity
@mawr I think that last bit is exactly what it's useful for! every time I've tried to quickly go over "asexual does not mean zero for all people, but it might for some, plus there's demisexual and..." with people who aren't deep in this stuff, it's been much messier than when I just say "80% ace".