[A]sexuality,  [Random] Thoughts,  Queer[ness]

#LeaveElsaAlone

quoted from a Tumblr post:

Okay so I’m not against #GiveElsaAGirlfriend or anything, but I identify myself as an asexual person and honestly I would be really happy if there could be a princess who doesn’t need a prince or a princess or anyone.

It would be really cool if there can be just one Disney character that does not need that kind of love, because being asexual is not easy to explain and much less to understand for others and yeah I think that #LeaveElsaAlone is much more accurate.


please note: the following isn’t directed specifically at the OP so much as it’s directed at anyone & everyone who thinks that #LeaveElsaAlone is a good idea.

could aces please, please, please not do that really shitty thing where you piggyback off of another community’s hashtag advocacy??

actually, this isn’t even piggybacking, really. i consider #AllLivesMatters to be piggybacking off of #BlackLivesMatters. i consider Japan’s #IAmKenji to be piggybacking off of #JeSuisCharlie. piggybacking is problematic for numerous reasons, but this #LeaveElsaAlone? it’s not even that.

just like the above examples, no one would have ever thought to create #LeaveElsaAlone if it weren’t for the creation of the original tag, which in this case is #GiveElsaAGirlfriend. not only is #LEA a direct response to #GEAG, no matter how you look at it, it flies in the face of #GEAG because it’s calling for the opposite of what #GEAG is asking of Disney. actually, the OP’s post doesn’t even seem to be directed at Disney? it’s almost as if the hashtag was made purely for the sake of making a hashtag against #GEAG.

yes, the asexual community is in need of representation in the media and OP has every right to want this particular Disney character to remain as she is at the end of Frozen. however, there are bound to be problems when creating a hashtag that flies in the face of another simply because another group of people, who are also in need of representation, is asking for representation and you feel like their representation detracts from yours.

first of all, it should be pointed out that the gist of OP’s reasoning behind this hashtag is that “it would be really cool if there can be just one Disney character that does not need that kind of love,” and yet there’s Merida from Disney’s Brave? meanwhile i don’t see a single relationship between two female characters that isn’t canonically familial or a friendship, which is all #GEAG is asking for.

secondly, not only does a hashtag like this fly in the face of the efforts of lesbians, bi women, pan women etc to gain representation of themselves in the media, the OP (with its explicit call for asexual representation) blatantly ignores the existence of asexual women who are attracted to women who are also in need representation and who may support the #GEAG hashtag.

to reiterate, the creation of the #LEA hashtag and the associated call for asexual representation throws ace women who are attracted to women under the bus. it leaves these people in the incredibly awkward position of being torn between two communities’ need for representation. it implies that support of #GEAG goes against their fellow aces’ happiness or need for representation, which in turn makes them feel some kinda shitty way– but then god forbid they support a response hashtag like #LeaveElseAlone to support their fellow aces because then that could result in ostracization or aggression towards them from the other community/ies that they belong to.

while OP obviously feels like #GEAG detracts from representation of people like themself specifically, media representation for an entire community of people really is not an “ours vs theirs” kind of thing.

the importance of asexual representation goes without saying. that said, if you see another marginalized group create a hashtag to try and generate awareness and/or representation for themself– a hashtag that doesn’t even necessarily negate asexual representation– responding with “wait! stop! what about me?!” isn’t appropriate, imho.

TL;DR: please advocate for representation for your community and for people like yourself in a way that isn’t essentially saying “no, you can’t have that thing you need because i need mine” to other people.

edit: and stop ignoring the fact that Elsa could be ace and have a girlfriend, ffs.

YouTuber and Blogger, Vesper is an American expat currently living in Japan.

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