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English
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Part 19 of Ace/Aro characters , Part 6 of Nocti's meta
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2017-10-27
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Demi meta on Rachel Zane

Summary:

It's Asexual Awareness Week, so I did a questionnaire for writing asexual characters, and wrote some thoughts on demi!Rachel, because I love her and relate to her, and it makes me happy to think of her as kinda demi.

Notes:

I’ve rewatched up to end of season 4 now. I haven’t seen any s7. Anyway, this is a headcanon that isn’t very obvious but one I hold because I love and identify with Rachel and I think this kinda makes sense for her.
Anyway, here’s a questionnaire about writing ace characters.
Happy Asexual Awareness Week 2017!
(In case someone feels it matters, I'm a white European)

Work Text:

1. Do they know they’re asexual?
Not really. She’s very sex favorable and bi and she just never really considers it.
2. If so, how did they figure it out?
I think, if she were to identify as ace/demi, she’s use it as a modifier, like demi-bisexual.
3. Do they consider themselves queer and/or LGBT+?
She’s bi, so yes.
4. If they don’t know they’re asexual, what DO they think they are? Do they have any idea?
Bisexual.
5. Have they experienced abuse, bad relationships, social anxiety, or other factors that might make them doubt whether they’re “really” asexual or not?
She has
6. What’s their romantic orientation?
7. Is it clearly defined? (It can be hard to tell, especially for aromantic-spectrum people.)
8. Is it fluid?
She’s biromantic and I think she is pretty clear about that.
9. Are they sex-repulsed, sex-indifferent, or sex-favorable?
Sex favorable, in many ways because her looks are what she was mostly praised for and she doesn’t mind the attention sometimes although it also frustrates her because she is smart and she wants to be seen as smart. So, she’s very used to being objectified, to an extent and knows that being hit on is part of her job that she just needs to put up with.
So, anyway, sex is a fun thing that she doesn’t mind having and often she enjoys it. But she doesn’t always develop sexual attraction easily (and sometimes it’s for the wrong people, like with married!Logan and initially taken!Mike).
10. Are there some kinds of physical intimacy other than sex that they enjoy? Do they like being touched, or are they touch-averse?
One of the things that lets me kinda lean on a demi read of her is the fact that in season 1, she showed some touch-aversion (with Mike in ep 4 and that double date with the random douche in 10/11?). So I think becoming comfortable with other people’s touch is something that takes her a while. But once she’s comfortable, she’s very OK with touches like hand-holding.
11. Are they willing to make sexual compromises in an intimate relationship with a non-asexual person? How often, and how far are they willing to go? Would they be bothered if their partner wanted to seek sexual intimacy elsewhere?
She’s sex favorable, so she doesn’t really have to make compromises.
12. Are they demisexual or gray-asexual, or neither?
Demisexual.

13. How confident are they about their sexual orientation?
Confident in their bisexuality, unknowledgeable about their deminess.
14. Do they feel alienated or ashamed of their sexuality? (Many asexual people grow up thinking something is wrong with them; even after discovering what asexuality is, they may still feel pretty bad about it.)
(In my headcanon, at least) I think she has had a feeling of being a bit different from her peers, that dating didn’t work for her quite the same way it did for other people. It also made her mother’s comments about her singlehood affect her more. It also was made worse by her working hours not really letting her develop outside relationships.
15. How do they respond to sexuality in other people and the media? Are they oblivious, amused, creeped out, bored, annoyed, disgusted or fascinated? Or a combination of several of those?
They don’t really have those issues. Sex is a normal thing and she does talk about sex stuff with her friends like Donna.
16. Are they familiar with asexual jargon and the asexual community?
I don’t think so.
17. If they’re religious, how does religion influence how they think about their sexuality?
She wanted a church wedding, but I don’t remember any other mention of her being religious.
18. Are they sex-positive toward other people’s sexualities?
Very much so.
19. How has asexuality affected their sexual history, dating life, and relationships with their peers?
She is pretty comfortably bi but she does struggle with ‘normal’ dating, both because of her working hours and how she doesn’t easily fall for people.
20. How has asexuality affected their relationship with their family? Has it created conflict?
Her mother gives her trouble about her singleness.
21. What kind of future life and family are they expecting? Will asexuality affect their expectations or future opportunities for a family? Do they want children? Genetic or adopted? Do they want a romantic partner or not? Are they open to polyamory?
She very much wants to marry Mike and hopefully that will actually happen soon. (Just rewatched the beautiful proposal scene *sniff*) I think she wants biological kids, but I don’t remember whether they’ve had that discussion yet (again, haven’t seen s7a yet).
22. Do they have internalized anti-asexual prejudice?
Probably a bit, most likely ‘I can’t be asexual, I like sex’ stuff.
23. Have they ever experienced anti-asexual prejudice? What form did it take and how did it affect them?
24. In particular, have they ever experienced bullying, sexual harassment, corrective rape, date rape, pathologization, misaimed homophobia, social anxiety, depression, panic attacks, or stigma related to their asexuality?
Probably not.
25. Have they experienced other kinds of anti-LGBT+ prejudice?
Probably some biphobic stuff.
26. How does asexuality interact with their gender identity, if at all?
She seems pretty confortably cis woman, so probably not.
27. If male, do they feel less masculine, mature, or socially successful because they are asexual? Do others perceive them that way?
28. If female, are they particularly affected by compulsory sexuality, sexual objectification, and rape culture?
Oh, yeah. She gets hit on at work a lot, and her beauty was valued over her brains for a long time (and the show has a habit of really sexualizing her at times, it can get very male gazey).
29. If they are trans*, or have a non-binary gender, do other people wrongly conflate their sexuality and gender identities?
30. Are they out of the closet about being asexual? To what degree, and to whom?
31. Do they have a support network of friends or family they can talk to about asexuality?
She doesn’t know/consider herself as ace/demi, so no.
32. Does asexuality affect what kinds of social events, hobbies, or work they can partake in?
Not really, she’s fine at bars.
33. Does asexuality affect how they speak? Do they avoid using words like “sexy” or “hot” which might be misinterpreted as sexual? Do they feel awkward when other people discuss sexual topics?
No, not at all.