This, acephobia- if you will, too is a socio-economic occurrence due to coming out as ace being a largely secluding experience even within the community (as is prevalent from recent discourse, in fact, it wasn't until 1977 that the term even entered the academic vocabulary). A large variety of factors thus influence the obscurity regarding coming out as asexual with people not only actively refraining from using the term even if they associate themselves with it (we know why but this is also ultimately affected by underrepresentation in the media) but also how confining the label can often feel due to its long-term implications as most of us, even unconsciously, do hope of finding a romantic partner (or a variation of it) simply because of how re-inforced the idea of “ finding a whole” is by society.

Even the concept of being a virgin, almost synonymous to being the laughing stock, is common evidence of how our life revolves around these norms.The lack of awareness around it, which also stems from lacklustre representation, only makes the label as such feel extremely confining and can only be addressed through accurate representation derived from real experiences as it is one of the most tangible means to propel the much necessary de-stigmatization of ace identities. It’s a vicious circle, indeed- how easy it becomes to be able to conventionalize a minority, with the marginalised being unable to push back to their inherent nature of being a minority, only to impel forward this nature of remaining a ‘minority’ due to the stigmas that can be built around it.