INTERVIEW WITH SPRIALLINGSNOWY

INTERVIEW WITH SPIRALLINGSNOWY by Janus the Fox

Hi I’m SpirallingSnowy, otherwise known as Gemma, and I’m an admin member for Australian Asexuals. I would like to acknowledge the Wallamedegal People of the Eora Nation as the traditional custodians of the land on which I live and work.

In the spirit of reconciliation, Australian Asexuals acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past, present and emerging, and extend our respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today. We acknowledge that sovereignty has never been ceded. It always was and always will be, Aboriginal land

What’s your activism efforts in your country or country where you are?

I am one of the admin team for Australian Asexuals, the national asexual organisiation in Australia. The admin team is made up of individuals in several states and territories in Australia, and we are active in the LGBTQIA+ community as well as pride festivals, participating in International Asexuality Day and Ace Week. We get regular media requests from Australian media as well as requests for collaborations with LGBTQIA+ organisations and services within Australia.

How did your organisation start, either founded by yourself, or the history of your organisation?

Between 2006-2009, myself and a few other Australian Asexuals put together a website called Asexual Awareness Australia, or A3. in 2009, i created our facebook group, and we also had a fb page. Later on, members

of our admin team created a Sydney based fb group, to unify organisation with Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, They created Australian Asexuals as an entity and A3’s fb page was defunct as so was changed into the main page for Australian Asexuals. Since those beginnings we now have had a website, fb groups for each state and territory, dating groups, Asia-Pacific Asexuals and Oceania Asexuals fb pages and groups.

What organisations of activism are you part of?

Asexuality Organisers International Australian representative for International Asexuality Day Proud at Woolworths - my workplaces Pride committee Part of the research team who put together the 2021 Asexual Experiences Survey put together by ACT Aces & Australian Asexuals Aussie Ace Week Team AVEN Project Team Other admin are members of state/territory and nationally recognised LGBTQIA+ groups and organisations, including workplace based pride groups, LGBTQIA+ sporting groups, LGBTQIA+ committees at a state/territory level, including The World Pride 2023 pride committee.

What difficulties has been raised in spreading knowledge of the existence of asexuality?

I came out as Ace in 2005, and back then we were just trying to introduce the term asexual to the wider world, and many of the terms we use to describe nuances within the Asexual Umbrella

didnt exist. 17 years later, it can get frustrating when it feels like we are still doing Ace 101, especially when it comes to getting our fellow LGBTQIA+ peeps to understand that asexuality is a real thing, and the term has been around alot longer than I have been out. I dream of the day when asexuality is as well an understood term as any other sexuality, and then maybe we can work on the Ace 102 and beyond, and acceptance of asexuality as being just another facet of the human experience.

Australia is a very widespread country and most meetups have been in capital cities. Asexuals try to attend their city’s pride festivals, and COVID has made that a challenge. The last 2 years we have held an online event for Ace Week called Aussie Ace Week, to bring our community together when we couldn’t in person.

Australia is in a unique position. While the official language spoken here is English, Australia is a multicultural country and prides itself on its diversity. Because we are not as big as other English speaking countries like the USA/UK, most asexual resources/media/research is not Australian based, or doesn’t include Australia. On the other hand, in our region, we are the country with the largest contingent of asexuals, with many of our neighbouring countries in Asia and the pacific either not having very many asexuals who are out/in a group, or not having an organisation in which to find such people. Our closest neighbours such as New Zealand and Indonesia, either have smaller numbers, no group, both, not very active, or the aces that live there are not around on social media. So we try to build regional connections, make sure we have diverse and varied representatives in both media requests and Ace Week events, while still understanding the privilege we have as a country compared to many countries that surround us.

The other thing that is a challenge is trying to engage the First Nations people who might be asexual. As a country we have a shameful & complicated history with how our first nations people have been treated in the past, and still are, and as an organisation we are always on the look out for Indigenous Australian Aces, because we want to make sure our organisation represents EVERY Australian, and not just white Aussies. Indigenous Australians have lived in this country for over 65,000 years, and

In your efforts, how far do you know its spread in your area, how many people you’d think your activism has reached?

Id like to the think that ive helped some people along the way, work out where they fit in under the LGBTQIA+ banner. Australian Asexuals continue to get media requests and receive emails and msgs from people who found out about themselves from seeing something from one of us out in the world. Many people who make media requests tell us that they have learnt something new about asexuality, and talking to us makes them realise how much they just didnt know. Organisations such as Amenesty Intl Australia are including the A in their acronyms, and durinbg the 2020& 2021 Sydney Mardi Gras paarades, Asexuality was discussed by the hosts when the Australian Asexuals float was on screen, and Mardi Gras is now including the A in their acronym, which are all very important things here. Courteny Act, one of the hosts, in both years, made sure to include the A and explained Asexuality on social media when explaining what all the other letters in the acronym mean, and its awesome to see a LGBTQIA+ celebrity in this country making sure Asexuals are included.