Ending the Pursuit: Asexuality, Aromanticism, and Agender Identity will examine how Western ideas of sexuality, romance, attraction, and gender – i.e. that sexual desire is inherently natural to all humans; that forming a sexual or romantic relationship is essential; that sensual closeness like cuddling and kissing implies sexual attraction; that gender is exclusively a binary of “man” and “woman”; etc. – are not inherently natural but instead have been naturalized over time. Along with the normalization of these ideas also came the indoctrination of certain constructs which pressured many of us to conform or “play by the rules” of sexuality, romance, attraction, and gender – to be in pursuit of “normalcy” – despite not fitting squarely within the moulds they carved out for us.

This design is for illustrative purposes only and is subject to change after crowdfunding

This is a book about identifying these understandings, exploring how they became prevailing social expectations, examining how their normalized status impacts our lives (whether we identify as asexual, aromantic, and/or agender, or not), and theorizing what unravelling them, or collectively ceasing to pursue them, could mean for our futures. It will simultaneously serve as an educational resource for people who seek to better understand the fundamentals of asexuality, aromanticism, and agender identity, addressing questions like:

• How did asexual identity form?

• What is aromanticism? What is romance?

• How does agender identity function in relation to the gender binary?

• What is the difference between sexual attraction and sexual desire?

• What does it mean to lack romantic attraction?

• What is attraction? How does attraction function?

Given the subject matter’s complexity, rather than telling a singular narrative, this book will devote chapters to essential asexual, aromantic, and/or agender subjects while interweaving relevant knowledge. For example, one of the book’s early chapters will examine the emergence of asexual identity online, and its subsequent community, in the 1990s and early 2000s. While the source material may be perceived to be somewhat dated, many self-identified asexual people discussed subjects at this time which hold deep relevance today (see: excerpt).

The subject matter of this book will be explored from an asexual, aromantic, and agender perspective – a worldview which remains largely misunderstood and invisible to “mainstream” discourses. In a world in which these perspectives of "lacking" have been deemed to be humanely impossible, abnormal, and unnatural, illuminating this “lost” or missing perspective unearths a liberating possibility to expand how we think of sexuality, romance, attraction, and gender in ways which, from an external position, may be overlooked or otherwise unimaginable.

In other words, this is a book about freedom.

ABOUT THE BOOK