2025-08-07 19:09:05 ¶ ● ⬈

aspenlovesmedia:

> So, I have spoken a bit about this before, but I’ve decided to do a full scale tangent about this.

> I want to talk about Jon’s asexuality, how much it means to me as a sex repulsed asexual person myself, and why I’m sick of people writing Jon smut.

> This is my personal opinion, and I just want people to please consider what I have to say. You do not have to agree with me, and please know this is not an attack on anyone or anything like that, I just want to talk about this and why I am frustrated.

> So, I believe people can write what they want, however as a writer you have to remember if you publish your work, even if it is fanfic, you can still cause harm.

> I think we can all agree that if you took a canonically gay character and put them in a straight relationship, that would be homophobic. Why doesn’t the same thing go for putting Jon, a canonically ace character, in smut? Now, I am not fully against putting Jon in sexual situations, I think there are things you can explore there, but when he is put in erotic situations it makes me so uncomfortable. I do not see how this is not acephobic.

> Asexuality it a real identity. My lack of sexual attraction is real and is not a defect that will be fixed. I have not, and never intend, to have sex.

> I have seen people deny Jon’s asexuality because we got the information from Melanie, and that argument does not make any sense. Please tell me when at any point in the story it would make sense for Jon himself to say he is asexual? Where? Jonny found a way to write it into the story, and it may be breif and second hand, but it cements it in the story itself, and he later confirmed it in a q&a. From a writing perspective, this was the simplest and a relatively smooth way for it to be put in the story where it was clear and didn’t take up much space. It was short and didn’t need to be brought up again, but the fact it was brought up at all in the first place is wonderful.

> For anyone saying Melanie wasn’t reliable because she hates Jon or whatever. Why would she lie? What would spreading the rumour Jon is ace do for her? Also, Georgie and Melanie are very close with each other even before they start dating, so it is reasonable for Georgie to have mentioned it. “Maybe she was mistaken” THEN WHY WOULD IT NOT BE BROUGHT UP AGAIN THEN?

> PLEASE. Please take a moment to think about this from a writing perspective. Jonny wanted to confirm Jon as asexual in the text itself, so had to figure out a way to do so that did not disrupt the flow of the story and felt natural. It would have been difficult to do that with Jon confirming he’s ace himself, as there’s not really a point where it would be brought up, but in a scene where Melanie and Basira are gossiping, yeah that makes sense. It does lead to the fact Melanie technically outs Jon, which isn’t the best, but also at least an effort was made and Jon being sex repulsed is confirmed in that scene in the story itself which is very rare in fiction. If Melanie for whatever reason had been wrong, there would have been a future scene correcting her. There’s not really a point where Jon would bring up his asexuality himself, and while I personally would be interested in how he experiences asexuality, that also has nothing to do with the plot of the story at all and considering how much TMA had going on (and the fact it is a horror podcast), I would never have expected it to go in depth.

> Is it a perfect way to have the fact Jon is ace confirmed in the text? No, but it serves it’s purpose and the fact a character is confirmed to be sex repulsed in the story itself and not just randomly confirmed in a tweet is great.

> I think the reason I have such an issue with this is that y’all can write smut with every other TMA character. Literally no other character is confirmed to be ace. I think it is a little different when sex positive aces project themselves onto Jon and do stuff with that, but even then, I think there are so many other characters you could explore that with. I personally headcannon Martin on the ace spectrum for example. There’s just so much you can do without erasing a character’s identity which is rarely represented anyway. I do really want to write a fic with Jon and Martin discussing Jon’s asexuality since it means the world to me that Jon being ace is canon, not just a headcannon I have, and how I can project my own experiences of being ace onto him.

> Again, I bring up how if a gay character was written in a fic to end up in a heterosexual relationship, it would be called out for being homophobic and I think the fact so many people don’t see an issue with Jon being put in smut fics despite being canonically a sex repulsed asexual shows how ignored asexuality is. I just think it sucks since TMA is so diverse and headcanons of those characters are too, but the one canon sexuality Jon has, which happens to be the fact he’s asexual, is purposefully ignored over and over again.

> I can’t say I’ve ever read any of these smut fics because it will make me feel sick and deeply uncomfortable, but from tags and descriptions of a lot of them I know someone just thought it would be fun to make Jon have sex and honestly it’s quite upsetting because as usual asexuality is treated like it isn’t real. I am aware Jon is a fictional character, but that’s also why I’m frustrated because there is every other character in TMA. None of the other characters in the show are canonically a sex repulsed asexual so why do you have to write smut with him specifically? Seriously, why? Because all you’re doing is showing yet another example of the fact asexuality is not treated like an actual valid identity and so you choose to ignore it.

> You wouldn’t make a gay character straight, so why make an asexual character allosexual?

> I hope all of that made sense. Sorry if its rambly or confusing at points. There’s probably more I could say, and maybe I will in the future, but I think this will do for now.