Ace Theory: An Essay in Fragments about Asexuality

By Ryan Fitzpatrick

Current opinion always holds asexuality to be invisible. Hence the notion of a happy, gentle, jubilant asexuality is never to be found in any text. Where are we to read it, then?

In this revelatory essay-in-fragments, critically acclaimed poet Ryan Fitzpatrick works through the ways in which they have interfaced with a sexual world as an asexual person. Often defined as the orientation of those who don't experience sexual attraction, asexuality is tied to a shared logic wherein our lives are shaped by sex, by romance, by economic and social pressures that determine what a good life looks like.

Leaping from the eureka-moment of finding the right words to name an unnameable experience, Ace Theory upends rigid definitions by turning over the pieces of a supposedly broken life. Through intellectual analysis, cultural criticism, and personal reflection, Fitzpatrick tangles with the trenchant knot of compulsory sexuality, putting a squeeze on the many pressures that make asexual people feel like they simply don't fit.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 177166990X
• ISBN13: 9781771669900
• Release Date: October 2026
• Publisher: Book*hug Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.6" x 5.3"