Contact Information
Research
I am interested in the intersections of asexuality, queer discourse, and the impact that language plays when navigating queer identity theory, particularly asexual discourse, as well as the implications the existence of an asexual population must have for an amatonormative culture.
I am specifically interested in the gendered subject, particularly in how asexual women’s experiences are shaped by omnipresent Western cultural expectations of motherhood, family, and marriage. I believe that these expectations can be redefined and reexamined to create more diverse and authentic family and community structures that are not based around sexual understandings of the self. By theorizing the asexual subject, I think it will be possible to more clearly understand the ways in which our understanding of romantic and platonic bonds is shaped by our cultural narratives. I seek to address the following questions: What does it mean to identify as an asexual woman when women are so sexualized in our culture? What language do we use about asexual women and their relationships, and can it be improved? What social pressures exist around sex, marriage, family norms, and singlehood, and how can we redefine the ways we think about intimacy to combat those social pressures?
Publications
Elgie, Evelyn. “The Identity Paradox: Coming to Terms with Asexuality”. Imagining the End of Allosexual Dominance, NWSA Conference 2018.
Elgie, Evelyn. “Trinity Test”. Hinge: Journal of the Contemporary XXII, 2016 (26-28) (x)