Ace Theory (An Essay in Fragments About Asexuality)

Current opinion always holds asexuality to be invisible. Hence the notion of a happy, gentle, jubilant asexuality is never to be found in any text. Where are we to read it, then?

In this revelatory book, critically acclaimed poet Ryan Fitzpatrick works through the ways in which they have interfaced with a sexual world as an asexual person. Often defined as the orientation of those who don’t experience sexual attraction, asexuality is tied to a shared logic wherein our lives are shaped by sex, by romance, by economic and social pressures that determine what a good life looks like.

Leaping from the eureka-moment of finding the right words to name an unnameable experience, Ace Theory upends rigid definitions by turning over the pieces of a supposedly broken life. Through intellectual analysis, cultural criticism, and personal reflection, Fitzpatrick tangles with the trenchant knot of compulsory sexuality, putting a squeeze on the many pressures that make asexual people feel like they simply don’t fit.