Tag Archives: netherlands

Asexual Awareness Week 25th-31st Oct

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Asexual Awarenessweek (Ace  Week)!

An asexuality flag (4 shorizontal stripes, from top to bottom black, grey, white and purple) with white font over it saying: asexual awarenessweek at the anarchistische boekenwinkel opstand, 29th and 30th october 2020 Den Haag

 

It is the annual Aceweek (25th – 31st  Oct.), thus the Anarchist Bookstore Opstand also will take part in educating and creating awareness  about all ace topics!

Do you want to ask questions about asexuality that you couldn’t get answered? Do you want to have some personal story sharing about ace experiences? Would you like to brainstorm about how to make asexuality more visible and acknowledged? You think you’re ace yourself but just wanna talk about it with an ace person? You know someone who’s close to you and just came out and need some resources?

We invite you to come along from 17-21 on the next Thursday (29th), and from 15-19 on the Friday (30th). M. from the Opstand will be there and ready with some topics to chat/talk/discuss about.
Not necess

ary, but recommended: write us an email or an Instagram direct message and tell us when you’ll be coming. We shouldn’t be more than 4 people in the space ( -if you just wanna talk face to face quietly, also possible).

some more things:
– We won’t tolerate shitty behaviour and discrimination, and want to make it a space to learn.
– bring your own facemask please
–  background of the person doing the event: themselves are non-binary and ace, white, non-academic background, slow reader. They prefer talking English, but german and dutch would also work.
– it’s free and there is no need to consume anything, but it would be nice to have some tea with you!
– accessibility: wheelchair accessible it is, but the entrance is a bit tricky. Knock in the window and we’ll make it possible (accessible toilet is there also) ! Next tramstop is Anna Bijnslaan.

*********************************************************************

ACE Week 2020 Resources:

  • Interested in / questioning

Most of the communication takes place in online communites, such as the AVEN forum or on socialmedia.
– Tumblr: fuckyeahasexual.tumblr.com (accessible without being signed up))
– facebookgroups are very helpful like ArosAndEnbies
– Instagram accounts to follow:
@aceawareness
@justaroacethings
@teachingoutsidethebinary [amazing teacher, nonbinary ace/aceflux]

@nonbinary.space.ace
@_aceingrace_  an channel especially to power and uplift black and POC folxs
dutch: @theacemind

  • General: AZE journal (aze.com)
  • youtube:
    – QueerAsCat (very cool person with very content content)
    –  asexual and aromantic tiktoks youtube compilation)
  • Ally sided
    – book The Invisible Orientation – An introduction to Asexuality (2014), Julia Sondra Decker
    – ace/aro zine

 

AZE JOURNAL:
most interesting articles  from aro/ace writers
literally SO good: here some links:

– https://azejournal.com/article/2020/3/23/the-words-you-didnt-have-yet

[aro/ace explanation based on personal story]

– https://azejournal.com/article/2020/9/22/well-okay

[very intense poem about current times, recommended!]

– https://azejournal.com/article/2020/9/22/platonic-state-of-mind
[poem about the notion of platonic love]

– https://azejournal.com/article/2020/3/23/grey [grey ace peronal story, very poetic]

– https://azejournal.com/article/2020/3/22/significant-others-aspec-polyamory-and-relationship-anarchy [some terms clarified + super good example of how to introduce RA and Asexuality to new ‘dates’]

– https://azejournal.com/article/2020/8/19/an-aromantic-love-letter [poem to ace people]

– https://azejournal.com/article/2020/8/19/when-the-absence-of-tangibility-makes-love-like-that-unattainable [poem]

– https://azejournal.com/article/2020/9/22/untouchable

– https://azejournal.com/article/2020/9/22/alice-oseman-and-the-revolutionary-power-of-the-platonic-love-story [review of a book that sounds goodd but the review is also top notch!]

“But you know what I realised on my walk?” she said. “I realised that I love you, Georgia.”
My mouth dropped open.
“Obviously I’m not romantically in love with you. But I realised that whatever these feelings are for you, I…” She grinned wildly. “I feel like I am in love. Me and you—this is a fucking love story! I feel like I’ve found something most people just don’t get. I feel at home around you in a way I have never felt in my fucking life. And maybe most people would look at us and think that we’re just friends, or whatever, but I know that it’s just… so much more than that.” She gestured dramatically at me with both hands. “You changed me. You… you fucking saved me, I swear to God. I know I still do a lot of dumb stuff and I say the wrong things and I still have days where I just feel like shit but… I’ve felt happier over the past few weeks than I have in years.” (p.413)

 

 

  • https://greatace.club/
    a bookclub with free lgbtqia+ ebooks, online. The selected book each month will either have an asexual spectrum author, canon asexual character, or an otherwise LGBTQ author who has shown support to the ace community.

 

definitions: understanding them with cake analogies by xen haas:

 

If you come across a cake and find it aesthetically attractive it means you think it’s pretty. It was very well put together and it’s nice to look at.

Sexual attraction is seeing the cake and the visual sparking thought about smelling it or eating it. Maybe the thought of licking the frosting off pops into your head, or maybe your eye is just drawn to that frosting and you can envision the taste. You might wonder how soft and moist it is. But, you might not actually want to, you just imagine it. Maybe it initiates hunger and maybe it doesn’t.

(Asexuality, then, is seeing cake all the time but it never even entering one’s mind that it’s potential food.)

Sex drive is how big your appetite is. You may just not be hungry almost ever. If you eat, it’s for some other reason. If you have a large appetite you want to eat, but you may not necessary care what you eat. Eating itself is what is satisfying, not necessarily what was eaten.

Sexual arousal is your physical reaction, sometimes to being hungry, sometimes to actually getting ready to or eating. It’s when the stimulus of the looks or smells or thoughts of the food laid out make your stomach growl or your mouth water. Sometimes this may happen without stimulus or actual hunger, sometimes your stomach just rumbles even if you don’t feel particularly hungry.

Sexual desire is being hungry for cake specifically. You want to eat that cake. Or maybe you just want to eat a cake and go looking for one. Just because you want the cake doesn’t necessarily mean you go after the cake.

Sexual activity is actually eating the cake. This could be because you really wanted the cake, but also because you just wanted to try the cake, or maybe everyone else was having cake and there was social pressure, etc.

Sexual orientation is what flavor(s) you like.

 

QSU 21/08 – This week: Talking Round about Relationship Anarchy from a QueerFem Perspective

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a purple header. in the middle are light blue freckles as a background for a text saying: relationship anachy from a queerfem perspectove. below is a short disclaimer in lgiht pink about cis-hets participation only with limited access. on the right upper corner there is an relationshipanarchysymbold that is queered. (it is a heart with an A in it, and there are the arrows of the transfeminismsymbol on it)
This week: Talking Round about Relationship Anarchy from a QueerFem perspective! (English)
 
****
Foreword: !COVID19 safety measurements and restriction have changed!
Inside a restaurant max. 6 people are allowed. We ain’t a restaurant but our place is quite small – We hope for no rain, thus we can sit outside with appropriate distance. Please take your own mondkapje for safety. (if you forgot or still decide to come, we have some at the bookstore as well). We’ll do our best to facilitate it as covid19 and machosafe as possible.
 
Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible through the restaurant (there is also a suitable toilet). If you need anything special event- or locationrelated during or before or after the event, let us know.
Next Tramstation is Anna Bijnslaan. Adress is Beatrijsstraat 12! Parking is difficult but possible in the surroundings.
For Allergics: 2 cats live in De Samenscholing. Let us know is we can make it any better for you.
********
 
 
This week we will talk about Relationship Anarchy.
 
What will it be about?
The content will be mainly related to a paper called ‘Thinking Relationship Anarchy from a Queer Feminist Approach’.
It is a text from 2018 by Roma De las Heras Gómez (you can find it under this link https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1360780418811965 or in this one ). She is a bi-lesbian feminist activist for non-conventional relationships and works on sex education and relationship anarchy.
 
The text is sociological research. We’re gonna make it more accessible in language. It is influenced by lesbian feminism and sexual theory.
 
Interesting to know: Relationship Anarchy is a philosophy of love but also a way of structuring affective bonds, breaking with norms and a political philosophy – we’ll go deeper into that last point on friday!
 
Which format will it take?
We will talk about the text, there will be a introduction and or small summary of it. We could also combine it with reading or findings of your own about this topic, so feel free to bring what you know and feel invited to read the text beforehand 🙂
 
 
 
!!! To our non queer participants !!!:
This session will be a discussion by and for queers – meaning that priority will be given to queer people. People who do not identify as queer and who wish to participate nevertheless can send an email beforehand (queerspreekuur@riseup.net). We will let you know by Friday 14.00 if the situation allows for your presence or not.
xoxo QSU
 
 
 

QSU 03/07/2020 Homonationalism in the Netherlands

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a white text with slightly transparent and purple background saying 'queers against homonationalism and the far right!' is placed in the first half of the picture. the whole picturebackground is two portraits, one of pim fortuyn and one of geert wilders. their images are crossed out with a big purple X.*FOR ENGLISH SCROLL DOWN*

Deze week begint de Queer Spreek Uur om 19.00.

We gaan het hebben over HOMO-NATIONALISME, oftewel het gebruiken van een zogenaamde LHBT+ emancipatie voor een nationalistische agenda. Denk hierbij aan Pim Fortuyn, of Wilders bijvoorbeeld, wanneer zij homo-rechten gebruiken om islamofobische leuzen te uiten.

Samen gaan wij stukjes van Gloria Wekker’s “Over Homo-nostalgie en (post)kolonialiteit – Waar zijn alle kritische witte homomannen gebleven?” lezen. (uit haar boek “Witte Onschuld, Paradoxen van Kolonialisme en Ras”, 2006).

Als je geen zin hebt om te lezen, ben je alsnog welkom: een van ons geeft een korte samenvatting en zal homo-nationalisme in een bredere context zetten. Daarna gaan we een informeel discussie houden. Wij zullen samen met de deelnemers beslissen of we Engels of Nederlands, of een mix van beide, als voertaal zullen gebruiken. Vragen of verzoeken? Mail ons dan: queerspreekuur@riseup.net.

>>>!!!<<<< BELANGRIJK! >>>!!!<<<< QSU nodigt je uit morgen 02/07/2020 van 16 tot 18 uur naar de lange vijverberg (Den Haag) te komen voor de ‘Sekswerkers Rechten tijdens Corona’ Demonstratie. (Wij zullen er ook zijn, als je niet alleen wilt gaan kun je ons mailen of ter plekken bij ons aansluiten, we zullen regenboogvlag buttons hebben.) —- This week the Queer Spreek Uur will start at 19.00 We will talk about HOMO-NATIONALISM, meaning the use of a supposed lgbt+ emancipation to defend nationalistic ideas. Think for example of Pim Fortuyn, or Geert Wilders when they use gay-rights to justify islamophobic slurs. Together we will read excerpts from Gloria Wekker’s “On Homo-Nostalgia and (Post)-Coloniality – or, Where Did All the Critical White Gay Men Go?” (from her book “White Innocence, Paradoxes of Colonialism and Race”, 2006). If you don’t feel like reading, you are stille welcome: one of us will give a short outline of the chapter and will set homo-nationalism in a broader context. After that, we will have an informal discussion. Together with the participants, we will decide whether we will be speaking Dutch, English or a mixture of both. Any questions or requests? Mail us! queerspreekuur@riseup.net. >>>!!!<<< IMPORTANT >>>!!!<<<

QSU invites you all tomorrow 02/07/2020 from 16.00 to 18.00 at Lange vijverberg(Den Haag) for the protest ‘Sexworkers’ Rights During Corona’. (We will be there as well, if you don’t feel like going alone you can reach out to us by mail or join us there – we will be recognisable by our rainbowflag buttons).