Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is Asexuality/Aromanticism?

A: Simply put, asexuality is a lack of sexual attraction, or experiencing sexual attraction under limited circumstances, and aromanticism is a lack of romantic attraction, or experiencing romantic attraction under limited circumstances. However, there have been a number of definitions offered for both of these terms, and neither is a single, monolithic identity. To learn more about these two terms, the critical theories associated with them, and their complicated definitions within intersectional contexts, please read our readings lists introducing Asexuality and Aromanticism in our Reading and Teaching Collections.

Q: What is The Asexuality and Aromanticism Bibliography?

A: The Asexuality and Aromanticism Bibliography is a tool designed to help asexuality and aromanticism researchers more easily locate relevant sources. Each entry in the bibliography has been tagged by a member of our team with relevant keywords, and users can use the tags to locate relevant literature. For more on our larger goals for the bibliography see our About Page.

Q: How do I navigate this website?

A: If you are just exploring resources, please go to our Searchable Bibliography. From there, you can scroll through entries, use the search bar (which will search tagged key terms, author names, and parsed titles), or search by topic using various search facet tags (asexuality, aromanticism, intersectionality, etc.). If you are new to the subject of asexuality and aromanticism studies, we also encourage you to look at our Reading and Teaching Collections for introductions to important topics, as well as to teaching resources.

Q: How do I effectively use the tools of The Asexuality and Aromanticism Bibliography?

A: We have a number of guiding questions and tips to help users navigate the bibliography, available below:

How do I see only academic writing, or only community writing?

Open the “Show Filters” button at the top of the searchable bibliography.  The third line of filters allows you to filter your search (choose only “academic” or “non-academic” to see results of your search in only one of the two categories).  For example, if you wanted to read about aromantic resonances in Victorian England, but you only wanted to read blog posts on the topic, you could type “Victorian” into the search bar, but also click the “non-academic” filter.

How do I see only certain kinds of writing (e.g., articles but not blog posts)? 

Open the “Show Filters” button at the top of the searchable bibliography.  The second line will allow you to filter by kinds of writing.  For example, if you wanted to read about examples of aphobia, but you only wanted to see dissertations on the topic, you could put “aphobia” into the search bar, and click the “dissertation/thesis” filter.

How do I use the “tags” feature to filter my searches? 

If you use the search bar, it will automatically keyword search the tags we have chosen for each bibliography entry. However, you can also open the “Show Filters” button at the top of the searchable bibliography and choose tags from the first line to filter your search. For example, if you want to research “Family” but you only want articles pertaining to aromanticism, you can put “family” into the search bar and then click the button next to “aromanticism” under tags, and you will only find results pertaining to both.

How can I use tags to explore topics?

Directly above we describe how to use tags to filter. But if you are interested in exploring all the sources listed under a given tag, then simply select the tag in question (or select multiple tags), and press the search button with nothing in the search bar. It will return you all entries that are tagged by the tag(s) you have selected.

How do I see more information about the different entries in the bibliography?

Under the search bar, there are a number of boxes you can select, to see different pieces of information about each entry in the bibliography. For example, after you search “queerplatonic,” you will be given a variety of entries, and if you click the boxes for “author,” “date,” and “discipline,” you will see each of these pieces of information displayed for each item on the bibliography that relates to queerplatonic relationships.

Q: Where should I get started with asexuality and/or aromanticism research? Can you recommend just a few articles? 

A: Our recommended articles are compiled into Reading and Teaching Collections on a variety of topics.  Some of these collections are curated by the Bibliography Team, and some of them are curated by various outside contributors.  In each list, focused collections on articles about a given topic are provided, alongside a blog-length justification for the list, to give researchers a starting place for research in different areas within asexuality and aromantic studies.

Q: How can I add my own “Reading and Teaching Collection”?

A: Please contact us on our Contact page to get in touch with our team about contributing your own collection.  In your initial correspondence, please introduce yourself, explain the idea for your collection, and your four to eight sources you are thinking of including.  Feel free to send us a link to your professional website or community blog if you’d like us to know more about you and your work.  After we accept your contribution, we will ask you to write a 500-800 word blog post explaining the list you have put together, and its importance to the field.

Q: I have a source on asexuality or aromanticism that is not included on the Bibliography yet; how do I get it added?

A: To submit an entry to the bibliography, please visit our Google Form.  Please keep in mind that you will need a source author, title, and year of publication at least to submit it to the bibliography.  To initially vet sources, we also ask that you submit a summary of the source, and five to fifteen tags from our selected tag list.

Q: Who created this website, and how do I cite it?

A: For more about our team, and about contributors to our Reading and Teaching Collections, please see our Contributors page.

To cite the website as a whole, we suggest you use:
Liza Blake and Jenna McKellips, co-leads. The Asexuality and Aromanticism Bibliography. Website published September 2022.

To cite one of the Reading and Teaching Collections, we suggest you use:
[blog post author]. “[Title of Collection].” In The Asexuality and Aromanticism Bibliography. Website published September 2022. Blog post published [date of blog post].

Q: Whom do I contact if I am having an accessibility issue? 

A: Accessibility is one of the primary focuses of this bibliography.  Please use our Contact Page to discuss accessibility concerns directly with our team and we will remedy them as soon as possible.

Q: Why do some of the resource links take you to pages that require further login information?

A: Because the bibliography is primarily a list of research rather than a collection of the articles themselves, we have provided direct links to sources where possible, but some of our sources are locked behind paywalls, or are not widely available in open-access format; where this is the case, we have included the publication information for each, to allow researchers to find them at their own institutions. If you are an author and would like to send us a link to an open-access version of your article (e.g., an Academic.edu upload, or a version posted to Humanities Commons), please Contact Us.

Q: My question was not answered on this page; how can I get in touch with you?

A: Please feel free to contact us using the Contact Page if you have any further questions, comments, or concerns.

The Asexuality and Aromanticism Bibliography was created with generous funds from a University of Toronto Critical Digital Humanities Initiative Graduate Partner Grant, and was initially launched September 2022.