Outside of the Box: Narratives of Aromantic and Asexual Erotic Embodiment

Abstract

This thesis presents an interdisciplinary, autoethnographic exploration of erotically embodied asexuality, representing narratives from individuals across the asexual and aromantic spectrum, situated within contexts of mindful relationships and somatic awareness. It enriches the discourse on the expanded erotic by providing sensorial descriptions of nonsexual eros. Emphasising the importance of the nonsexual libido, it contends that the pervasive sexualisation of eros limits human flourishing and it challenges assumptions about eros and intimacy being contingent on sex, as well as the conflation of romance with love.

Adopting an embodied, interpretive interactionist, post-human, post-sexual viewpoint, this work furthers the efforts of asexuality scholars to displace sexuality from its central role in modern Western identity performances. Addressing the ‘asexual paradox’ of ‘not being sexual’ being defined as a sexual orientation, it introduces the new concept of ‘platonically erotic’ as an orientation without the mention of sexuality. While acknowledging AVEN's role in validating asexuality, it questions the notion of asexuality as an essential orientation, proposing that it can be a ‘becoming’ that encompasses narratives of asexuality being an outcome of celibate practice, the natural sublimation of libido through somatic awareness, and a valid lifestyle choice for traumatised individuals who do not wish to ‘fix’ themselves to conform to societal norms.

Fusing creativity with academic scholarship, this thesis challenges conventional doctoral structures, employing an alternative structure and a layered format that blends theoretical and empirical analysis, poetic prose, and creative narrative. It aims to offer an experiential and engaging reading experience, encouraging individual interpretation and temporal understanding. Serving as a resource of embodied asexual narratives, it contributes knowledge to asexuality studies and future studies in the sociology of desire, sociology of the libido, and sociology of love. It advances reflexive and creative methodologies including autoethnography, sensory autoethnography, embodied inquiry, auto/biography, sociological fiction, poetry as method, and narrative performative approaches.

Ethical considerations within qualitative, embodied, and creative research are emphasised, including care for both researchers and participants. The thesis also provides recommendations for additional ethical measures and researcher training needs.