Aze
Volume 5, issue 3 on Family (2022)
CategoriesLiterary magazine
FounderMichael Paramo
Founded2016
First issueMay 2017 (2017-05)
Websiteazejournal.com

Aze (stylized AZE) is a literary magazine for asexual, aromantic, and agender people that was created in 2016 and publishes issues online.[1][2][3][4] It was formerly known as The Asexual until 2019 when it expanded to include aromantic and agender people.[2] The magazine publishes visual art, poetry, and personal and academic essays on the subjects of asexuality, aromanticism, and agender experiences and their various intersections.[1][2] It was founded by Michael Paramo.[5]

It is listed as an educational resource by some American university centers and elsewhere,[3][6][7] including Alice Oseman's young-adult fiction book Loveless (2022).[8] Writing in Aze has been referenced in scholarship published by Feminist Formations,[9] Sexualities,[10] Archives of Sexual Behavior,[11] Communication Education,[12] and others.[4]

Content

Aze publishes content online in magazine volumes of four issues. In 2019, the magazine changed its name from The Asexual to AZE to represent a shift in its content's focus beyond asexual identity, including gray-asexuality and demisexuality, as well as people on the aromantic spectrum and agender people.[13] The magazine had previously published an issue focusing on agender experiences in 2018.[14]

Most issues focus on a specific intersection or topic related to asexual, aromantic, and agender experiences.[15] Themes that have been explored in the magazine's issues have included "Asexual Masculinities," "Redefining Relationships," and "Aromanticism."[2] Other issues have focused on body image, race, media representation, gender, sexuality, and attraction.[2][13] It has published interviews with Pragati Singh in 2018 and 2023.[16][17]

The magazine's content is edited by the founder Michael Paramo, who is asexual, aromantic, agender, and Mexican American.[13] The magazine was discussed by Paramo in an interview for Sex Out Loud with Tristan Taormino in 2019.[18]

Reception

Aze's focus on publishing asexual, aromantic, and agender people's perspectives has been recognized as unique since these experiences are "often absent from the mainstream."[2] The magazine is listed as a resource by the Asexual Visibility and Education Network,[19] Sounds Fake but Okay,[20] some American university resource centers,[3][6][7] and in Alice Oseman's young-adult fiction book Loveless (2022).[8]

The magazine has been noted for its inclusion of people of color within the asexual, aromantic, and agender communities, particularly of BIPOC and Latinx people.[2][21][22] Janeth Montenegro Marquez argued that "AZE does a good job of creating a niche for individuals who crave it" by providing "other queer individuals, queer BIPOC individuals especially, a space of community to explore their identities" and theorize about their experiences where they may not be able to "in other queer spaces."[2] The magazine's issue on race was noted by Foster et al. to contribute to expanding perceptions of the asexual community beyond whiteness.[21] Justin Smith referenced a poem published on Aze to argue that there are inherent connections between blackness and asexuality.[9] Ben Brandley and Angela Labrador cited an article from the magazine that argued how people of color may feel excluded from the asexual community.[12]

Scholar Anna Kurowicka referenced the magazine's issue on disability to examine the intersections between asexuality and disability narratives, arguing for the need to trouble the boundaries between both experiences.[10]

In a book edited by Angela M. Schubert and Mark Pope, authors Stacey Litam and Megan Speciale refer to an article published on Aze that discusses different types of attraction as multi-layered, including sexual, romantic, aesthetic, sensual, emotional, and intellectual, to argue for the need to expand notions of attraction beyond sexual attraction within the context of interpersonal relationships.[23]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Ace and Aro Journeys: A Guide to Embracing Your Asexual or Aromantic Identity. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. 2023-04-21. pp. 252–53. ISBN 978-1-83997-639-1. AZE Journal is an online publication of agender, aromantic, and asexual people's creative expressions, including visual art, poetry, essays...
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Montenegro Marquez, Janeth (Spring 2022). "Asexual Latina/o/x Representation in AZE" (PDF). Feral Feminisms. 10 (2): 13–15.
  3. 1 2 3 "Asexual/Aromantic Education". UC Santa Barbara Resource Center for Sexual & Gender Diversity. Retrieved 2023-08-18. AZE is an independent online journal publishing ace, aro, and agender writers and artists. It was established in 2016 and has more than fifteen issues.
  4. 1 2 "About AZE". AZE journal. Archived from the original on 2023-04-14. Retrieved 2023-08-18.
  5. ↑ "Exploring Asexuality: The "A" in LGBTQIA+". Psych Central. 2021-10-26. Retrieved 2023-08-19. Michael Paramo — creator of AZE journal (originally known as The Asexual)
  6. 1 2 "Intersectional Identities | LGBTQ+ Resource Center". University of Milwaukee LGBTQ+ Resource Center. Retrieved 2023-08-18. A journal publishing asexual, aromantic, and agender writers and artists, created by Michael Paramo.
  7. 1 2 Leuzinger, Julie. "Guides: LGBTQ Studies: Ace Week-Books/Journals/Films". University of North Texas Library: LGBTQ Studies. Retrieved 2023-08-18. An independent online journal publishing the perspectives of ace, aro, and agender authors.
  8. 1 2 Oseman, Alice (2022-03-01). Loveless. Scholastic Inc. ISBN 978-1-338-75195-6.
  9. 1 2 Smith, Justin (2020). ""[T]he happiest, well-feddest wolf in Harlem": Asexuality as Resistance to Social Reproduction in Claude McKay's Home to Harlem". Feminist Formations. 32 (3): 51–74. doi:10.1353/ff.2020.0040. ISSN 2151-7371.
  10. 1 2 Kurowicka, Anna (2023-05-04). "Contested intersections: Asexuality and disability, illness, or trauma". Sexualities: 136346072311707. doi:10.1177/13634607231170781. ISSN 1363-4607. I explored the archives of AZE journal to find articles that address these issues. (...) A 2022 issue of the AZE journal devoted to disability...
  11. ↑ McInroy, Lauren B.; Beaujolais, Brieanne; Craig, Shelley L.; Eaton, Andrew D. (2021-11-01). "The Self-Identification, LGBTQ+ Identity Development, and Attraction and Behavior of Asexual Youth: Potential Implications for Sexual Health and Internet-Based Service Provision". Archives of Sexual Behavior. 50 (8): 3853–3863. doi:10.1007/s10508-021-02064-y. ISSN 1573-2800.
  12. 1 2 Brandley, Ben; Labador, Angela (2023-10-02). "Towards an asexual-affirming communication pedagogy". Communication Education. 72 (4): 331–347. doi:10.1080/03634523.2022.2151638. ISSN 0363-4523.
  13. 1 2 3 "Pride Reads: Three Queer Speculative Fiction Magazines to Check Out!". The Geekiary. 2021-06-10. Retrieved 2023-08-24.
  14. ↑ "A(gender): An Anthology". AZE. 2018-11-14. Retrieved 2023-08-24.
  15. ↑ "Journal". AZE. 2023-07-25. Retrieved 2023-08-23.
  16. ↑ "Indian Aces: Awareness and Activism in India". AZE. Retrieved 2019-12-01.
  17. ↑ "Asexual Advocacy in India: An Interview with Dr. Pragati Singh". AZE. 2023-03-27. Retrieved 2023-08-24.
  18. ↑ "October 11th 2019: Michael Paramo on Asexuality, Aromanticism, and Agender Identity". VoiceAmerica. Retrieved 2023-08-19.
  19. ↑ "Links | The Asexual Visibility and Education Network | asexuality.org". www.asexuality.org. Retrieved 2023-08-18.
  20. ↑ "Asexual and Aromantic Resources". Sounds Fake But Okay Podcast. Retrieved 2023-08-18.
  21. 1 2 Foster, Aasha B.; Eklund, Austin; Brewster, Melanie E.; Walker, Amelia D.; Candon, Emma (2019). "Personal agency disavowed: Identity construction in asexual women of color". Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity. 6 (2): 127–137. doi:10.1037/sgd0000310. ISSN 2329-0390. ...an online journal dedicated to asexuality, recently dedicated an issue to the intersections of asexuality and race to promote a "message on the significance of prioritizing the voices of ace POC and decentering the whiteness of ace spaces.
  22. ↑ Döring, Nicola; Bhana, Deevia; Albury, Kath (2022-12-01). "Digital sexual identities: Between empowerment and disempowerment". Current Opinion in Psychology. 48: 101466. doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101466. ISSN 2352-250X. Recent studies and reviews also look into digital asexual identities of people of color such as asexual male identified Filipinx on Tumblr or asexual Latinx in the aro/ace community journal AZE.
  23. ↑ Schubert, Angela M.; Pope, Mark (2022-09-20). Handbook for Human Sexuality Counseling: A Sex Positive Approach. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-119-90413-7.
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