LOTO NEGRO

A historical journey through the overlooked traces of asexuality before the internet, from the 19th century to the emergence of the first online ACE communities. There is a widespread yet mistaken belief that asexuality suddenly appeared on the internet overnight. However, language does not invent realities; it is simply developed as we become aware of them and learn how to name them.   Asexuality has always existed, long before social media. As with many other human realities, the number of asexual people has not increased; rather, awareness and understanding have grown, allowing people to identify and make it visible. For much of history, this was impossible, resulting in a dramatic absence of records due to the lack of testimonies, historical erasure, and the misinterpretation of the few accounts that did survive. After all, what cannot be named is often treated as if it does not exist, and it is impossible to raise awareness about something if people are unaware of it and do no...

“Asexual orientation currently estimated to describe 1 percent of the population. Asexuality is usually defined as the experience of not being sexually attracted to others. Less commonly, it is defined as not valuing sex or sexual attraction enough to pursue it.”   —Julie Sondra Decker, The Invisible Orientation .   I   My experience was not pleasant, and I want to make that clear from the very beginning. Throughout my youth, I had to go through a number of unpleasant, painful, dark, and even unhealthy situations. To a large extent, these situations were related to my sexuality, but also to many other factors.   My intention is to recount what I experienced on an internal, individual level, primarily, so I will try not to speak about the other people involved in the story. Even so, I know this will be difficult. I ask only one thing of those who read these lines: understanding. This will be a partial truth, but no less true for that. I will speak about my feelings an...