In my master’s thesis, I explored the topic of asexuality, focusing on the experiences of asexual people with discrimination and violence. In the theoretical part, I explained the concept of sexual orientation and the abbreviation “LGBT+”, listed different definitions of asexuality, explained the process of coming out, the issue of pressure to have sex and what is aromanticism. I further outlined what aphobia is and described the issues of microaggression, discrimination, violence and the stigmatization of asexuality. I have listed different strategies asexual people use for coping with stigma. I concluded the theoretical part with describing a connection between asexuality and social work. In the empirical part, I presented the findings of the qualitative research I conducted - by interviewing a non-probabaility accidental sample of thirty asexual people. This is the first Slovenian research in this field. Questions were related to asexuality stereotypes, interviewees’ experiences of coming out, their experiences of discrimination and violence, sexual pressure, the role of social work etc. I realized that discrimination against asexual people most often manifests in the form of social exclusion and isolation, disbelief and disregard for their asexual identification, unwanted sexual intercourse, intimidation, and irritation. I have found that asexual people experience different types of violence, and that sexual violence predominates. Asexual people often experience sexual threats and manipulation, especially from former or potential partners. Specific for asexual people is corrective rape. Social workers are important actors in preventing discrimination and violence and reducing the stigma of asexuality, but we must always be ready to educate and inform ourselves. Professionals need to be aware that asexuality is not something that needs to be fixed. Ways of supporting asexual people and communities vary, from individual support, education, awareness-raising to the fight against discrimination. We are respectful and responsible allies of asexual people. I found out that the interviewees believe that society’s attitude towards asexuality is slowly changing for the better, which is also reflected in the increased number of spaces that define themselves as LGBTQIA+. Gender normativity and societal expectations regarding attributed gender roles remain a problem. More and more asexual characters are appearing in the media, which helps normalizing asexuality, but on the other hand, these characters can be misrepresented, thus spreading and reinforcing negative stereotypes. At the same time, the media are also becoming increasingly open to sexual topics, advertisements are sexualized, the relationships shown are mostly heterosexual etc. I have learned that asexual people may have unique needs and experiences that challenge traditional mental health practices. Social workers need to be educated and learn how to take these differences into account in order to prevent harm in the social work relationship or, worse, to increase the harm. The results of the research are useful for me as well as for all professionals working in the field of gender and sexuality.
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