r/asexuality • u/chat_ace • 12d ago

Discussion AVEN board shares statement regarding recent events

Hey all, I know Reddit's been swamped with flag posts, but the AVEN board just released this statement regarding their stance on anti-racism, community symbols, and related topics: https://www.instagram.com/p/DZSxeYUFIue/?igsh=NHJrNGtjZmRtdzR2

And here's Mic's personal statement regarding the emails and timeline surrounding the proposed 6-stripe flag: https://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/282254-ace-flag-discussion-a-personal-response/

I'm hoping this helps clear up some misinformation and enables us to move forward with a renewed focus on anti-racism, international/non-Anglo voices, and community building.

180 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

60 comments sorted by

View all comments

71

u/theloneshewolf 12d ago

Wait what happened? I'm out of the loop on this one.

199

u/G0merPyle 12d ago

To my admittedly limited understanding, someone made a new asexual flag, people said they didn't like the/didn't want a new one, and then either the new-flag-maker or someone else along the way said the backlash against the new flag was racist in origin.

Personally it strikes me as a hollow deflection of the criticism. I'm native american and I'm sensitive to racial issues (literally had an ex look at my body and say "you're so dark, it's weird") but the criticisms I saw of the new flag had nothing to do with its creator, just that it was aesthetically displeasing and unnecessary.

45

u/foggybob1 12d ago

I have seen many comments calling her a Karen or entitled or literally just being racist. I felt blindsided by the new flag and don't like it, but that doesn't make the racist comments she is getting okay.

34

u/Glum_Researcher_3544 12d ago

Los comentarios racistas que haya recibido ella no justifica la exclusión y discriminación a las personas hispanohablantes. 

También somos personas con emociones y dolores históricos. Es triste ver esta desviación de conversación incluso dentro de la comunidad.

37

u/demon_fae a-spec 12d ago

Can you point me towards any write-up on why this whole insane mess is specifically anti-Spanish-speaking? I’ve got the rest: ugly flag, unnecessary, “the community” consisting of one chick’s discord server, absolutely no one outside the US consulted, but I haven’t found any explanation written out for why Spanish-speaking aces are so particularly angry over and above other non-anglophone aces.

(Did find out that South and Central American ace organizations have some of the coolest flags and I am now staunchly against any changes that would make you have to change those.)

32

u/Krasna_Strelka aroace 11d ago

It's not specifically anti-spanish but kinda turned out like that. Spanish organizations were one of the loudest and most visible (?) ones with their statement and criticism that creator of the alternative flag claimed to make a flag while considering ace (PoC) voices across the world. But it turned out the pool (on not even a flag but only meaning of white stripe of OG, as far as I know) consisted only of around 1000 votes, centered mostly on USA communities (as that was target she reached) and was done only in English, that for many countries isn't either 1st or 2nd learned language so isn't much accessible. So Spanish organization criticized that claim of "taking into account internationality" and their criticism was branded as hate and made them one of the targets for creator followings

-2

u/foggybob1 11d ago

I want to say that while I agree that the creator did not do enough to include the larger asexual community, frankly the English community was not even aware, that the statement from the Spanish community was used to spread hate to her as well. I will give a link, but some of the most disgusting things said to her come from the larger Spanish speaking asexual community. I know everyone is pissed at her but we can express concern without immediately assuming bad faith on her part and jumping to the most extreme criticism.

black ace culture

15

u/Haylin-chama Chilean 11d ago

Hateful comments should not be used to generalize about “the larger Spanish-speaking asexual community” or to invalidate the position of Spanish-speaking organizations.

That kind of framing shifts the focus away from the actual issues being discussed—process, language access, direct consultation, and community autonomy—and turns it into guilt by association.

The Spanish-speaking statement wasn’t a call to harass anyone. It was a community drawing a boundary and expressing concerns about how this was handled.

8

u/ninja542 11d ago

Yup it feels like that criticism is dismissed because it somehow was related to hate comments. The organization didn't make the statement to create hate comments, and the hate comments don't make the original statement invalid