Where Is A?! A Scavenger Hunt for Asexual Traces in Dutch Sexusociety

Abstract

This thesis is an exploration of traces of asexuality in the Netherlands. Drawing on writing within the field of queer theory, feminist studies, and the newly emerging asexuality studies, I will embark on a queer scavenger hunt for traces and resonances of asexuality in the Netherlands. This will be a queer undertaking, that is also deeply personal, taking on the feminist notion that the personal is political. First, we will explore Dutch sexusociety and its specificities, unearthing three dominant normative strains within this sexual discourse: the adherence to the normal, the dominance of the normalized homosexual, and the pervasiveness of homonationalism. Then, we will take on the COC and critically inquire why it refuses to include asexuality in its organization. After this, the queer scavenger hunt continues within the Netherlands, digging through feminist and LGBTQ+ archives for traces and resonances of asexuality, finding these resonances in the spinster and the Boston marriage. Further on this scavenger hunt, I will explore how asexuality is represented in the public domain and is understood amongst the Dutch LGBTQ+ community. Finally, I embark on a quest beyond the horizon, in a search for an asexual futurity that could break with the pervasiveness of sexual futurity. I propose an allegiance of queer and trans grassroots organizations with asexual activists, to reimagine and reconfigure conversations on desires, intimacies, sexuality, and relationships outside of sex.