Hot Take: Total acceptance and inclusion is a still awhile away
I just made these step up myself but it's a framework for acceptance by the general public.
- Information and Awareness: Let people know what an asexual is and what asexuality is. <---- we are here
- Passive Tolerance: The general public knows what asexuality is and tolerates the lifestyle of asexuals. (People may not accept asexuality as a sexuality at this stage but they will begrudgingly allow their lifestyle, live and let live.)
- Inclusivity and Acknowledgement: Included in the LGBTQ+ community and acknowledged as a real sexuality.
- Acceptance: Asexuality is accepted as a real sexuality and non-sexual partnerships are recognized as genuine loving viable relationships.
Let's be real here. People still don't know what asexuality is. There's so much confusion and various vague ideas of what makes someone asexual. People still don't understand the difference between sexual attraction, libido, and sexual desire. There are people who feel as if being hypersexual and sexually insatiable is what makes someone allosexual and if you spend anytime at all not wanting/thinking about sex you must be asexual. It is my opinion that acceptance is just not the goal the asexual community should be reaching for at this moment in time. Of course, it's a long term goal but right now we should focus on information and awareness. AVEN and asexual youtube videos has done so much damage to the meaning of asexuality that it is going to take awhile for us to fix this before we can even think of acceptance. It's hard for the public to accept something that has no real meaning. If I say "I'm asexual" to someone, they don't know if that means I feel sexual attraction sometimes, I feel it after romantic attachments, or I feel it when the moon is full. They don't know if that means I have sex or if I don't. The term "asexual" gives people 0 information on the person saying it. Acceptance can't come before understanding.