aromanticism, asexuality, faith, resources

Aromanticism, asexuality, and Christianity

jennadewitt

I’m primarily focusing my work on progressive Christianity and the queer church because that’s where I’m most needed and fit best, but others have blazed a trail before I got here and I’m not alone now.

My work

Podcast episodes where I talk about my aro ace experience in Christianity, aro and ace inclusive affirming theology, queerness, and more: https://invisiblecakesociety.com/podcasts/

For Sojourners: Asexual and Aromantic People Are Often Forgotten, But God Sees Us: https://sojo.net/articles/joy-being-queer-and-christian/asexual-and-aromantic-people-are-often-forgotten-god-sees-us

Sojourners’ Joey Thurmond interviewed me and some of the leading voices on asexuality for this piece on ace history, purity culture, and Christian compulsory sexuality: https://sojo.net/magazine/november-2023/no-sex-okay

Then he included my whole interview on his Substack! Read this for perhaps my most comprehensive work on asexuality and Christianity: https://joeythurmond.substack.com/p/an-interview-with-jenna-dewitt

D.L. Mayfield invited me to present a workshop on Sherronda J. Brown’s Refusing Compulsory Sexuality for their book club on Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/dlmayfield/p/video-recording-of-jenna-dewitt-presentation?r=1mmqg&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Being aro ace, celibate, sex positive, and Side A (fully affirming): https://invisiblecakesociety.com/2021/06/05/side-a-celibate-asexual-queer/

Frozen 2 helped me come out: https://invisiblecakesociety.com/2020/05/20/show-yourself/

Asexuality and purity culture, part 1 of my story: https://invisiblecakesociety.com/2020/04/22/no-more-waiting-p-1/ and part 2 of my story: https://invisiblecakesociety.com/2020/04/24/no-more-waiting-p-2/.

I joined a group of religious aces to talk about our experiences for Ace Week 2021 hosted by The Ace and Aro Advocacy Project: https://taaap.org/2021/10/29/ace-week-21-religious-aces/

Breaking Garlic Bread and Cake: An Ace and Aro Christian Meetup

For Pride month in 2022, 2023, and 2024, I partnered with Ell Huang (see below) and Justin Ancheta to host a discussion among the aro and ace Christian community on issues that affect us and our dreams for a more a-spec inclusive church.

Shorter reflections are posted to the Invisible Cake Society Substack, so subscribe there too for a happy medium size between this what I post to site and short bites on social media like Threads and BlueSky. 😁

Others’ work

Ell Huang: Read all of these beautiful poetry and prose works. So much of what Ell writes resonates strongly with me as well.

Justin Ancheta was also interviewed by Joey Thurmond for Joey’s Substack and covers a wide array of issues from Christian mysticism to disability: https://joeythurmond.substack.com/p/an-interview-with-justin-ancheta

Gee Bree had an article in Red Letter Christians about why Christians should care about asexual perspectives: https://redletterchristians.org/2025/03/11/dividing-bone-and-marrow-what-asexuality-can-offer-the-church/

Rowan Wiebe on the basics of asexuality and aromanticism and awareness in the (Canadian) affirming church and beyond

What it means to be asexual and Christian on Queer Grace: http://queergrace.com/asexual/

Encouragement for Aros and Aces on the Our Bible App devotional library: https://www.ourbibleapp.com/new-blog/katelyn-woods-111

Asexual and Aromantic Identities and the Image of God | Reformation Project workshop video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbJUrZRghHU

Tyger Songbird on the damage of purity culture and how he found himself when he left church: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/10/purity-culture-made-me-feel-trapped-finding-asexuality-set-me-free/

Researcher Canton Winer summarizes interviews with asexual Christians on the harms of both purity culture and the sex positive movements’ compulsory sexuality: https://cantonwiner.substack.com/p/the-freedom-not-to-be-sexual

The Ace Couple podcast series on how extreme right-wing groups use Christianity to be aphobic: Asexual Marriage Is Under Attack | Religious Right Says Sex Is Integral to Marriage | God Gave Us Sex… | Christian Republicans Hate Asexuals

The Ace Couple podcast episode with Twitch streamer Sharky on asexuality, Christianity, high school, and trauma.

What’s with the conservative evangelicals being against aromanticism and asexuality/platonic marriages? The Ace Couple and Tyger Songbird have good threads on that. More from Tyger here including an article on LGBTQNation and other links.

Fee Marshall in Pink News on being genderfluid, aro ace, and Christian

Kaitlin Smith on Believe Out Loud: Discovering My Asexuality and Growing Up as an Asexual Christian

Christine Woolgar on her journey with sex and sexual dysfunction as a married ace Christian woman: https://www.workthegreymatter.com/thoughts-asexual-christian-married-woman/

A zine from 2016 on ace perspectives on the church: https://theacetheist.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/aces-in-the-church-zine.pdf

Mistaking asexuality for sexual purity: http://www.rolereboot.org/archives/details/2015-04-i-mistook-my-asexuality-for-sexual-purity/

A blog post and informal survey of the blogger’s local churches on acceptance of asexuality in 2014: https://theacetheist.wordpress.com/2014/05/16/on-christians-the-sanctification-of-sex/ and https://theacetheist.wordpress.com/2014/05/11/concluding-round-2/.

A 2013 Asexual Agenda post on asexuality and Christianity: https://asexualagenda.wordpress.com/2013/08/09/christianity-and-asexuality/

A 2012 midrash (biblical reimagining) on the asexuality of Mary and the virgin birth: https://feminismandreligion.com/2012/09/01/the-need-for-asexuality-in-theological-discourse-by-lachelle-schilling/