Reviews

Ace: What Asexuality Reveals about Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex, by Angela Chen

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mad_th's review against another edition

5.0

Life changing. Would recommend to anyone, regardless of how they identify. An empathetic, eye-opening lesson you almost certainly didn’t get in school. Wow.

a_tiny_bit_of_magic's review against another edition

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challenging hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

Must read for anyone who does or does not have sex

calireisreading's review against another edition

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informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

It's a well written book that doesn't only explore asexuality, but relationships and the role of sex in our lives as well. The author makes extensive use of anecdotes, which i personally found interesting as they show many different perspectives on what life as an ace person (mostly) can be like; she does cite sources as well, although the overall feeling of the book is more like a collective reflection rather than a scientific or sociological analisys. It's like a community of ace and queer people bringing forth their own experiences deviating from the cisheteronormative and then confronting those with societal expectations, in order to better understand what the latter are and what their consequences and their impact on everyone's (not just aces') wellbeing are; it's a thought-provoking and informative read that I'd suggest to anyone not just wanting to know more about asexuality starting from the basics, but who is also ready and willing to challenge their beliefs on relationships, friendship, romance, sexuality, and their role in our world.

janwe's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

low_keybookish's review against another edition

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I borrowed the audio book but I think the printed version is better for me with all of the information in it

lacafe13's review against another edition

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3.0

This book was an intriguing look at asexuality and how that interacts with allosexuality. The author uses a lot of anecdotes interspersed with research to explore the topics. I found her style engaging, though I generally prefer a stronger biological/scientific approach to these topics. I disagreed with her in terms of her use of critical theory as well as her strongly hedonistic ethic which is at strong odds with a classically Christian ethic. I do not see the Christian ethic as constraining; at the same time, it is important for me to understand a woke/critical theory/reified postmodernism approach that is saturated in a hedonistic ethic. It seems that this view has been gaining much traction, and listening carefully to the perspective is important in order to interact with it. I gave it a three because I disagreed with her ethics, but appreciated her contribution to this body of knowledge nonetheless.