Asexual Fairy Tales
Synopsis
Almost everyone knows the familiar fairy tale ending: the prince marries the princess and they live happily ever after. Or do they?
Once upon a time, our ancestors were much more honest and open about the spectrum of human sexuality. Among the fairy tales and myths they told were stories of androgynes, neither male nor female; of women and men who resist sex and marriage for other kinds of love; of chaste romances, miraculous childbirth and bodily transformations. These are the asexual fairy tales you will find in this book.
These tales come from many places: from Grimms’ Fairy Tales to The Thousand and One Nights, from Greek mythology and Arthurian legend to the silent films of the 1920s and from Scandinavia to Japan. Retold, reimagined, and sometimes reinvented as new stories for the 21st century, these stories will change the way you think about fairy tales, and bring asexuality out of the closet.
Elizabeth Hopkinson
From an early age, fantasy author Elizabeth Hopkinson has had a fascination with fairy tales. Her interest in the genre led her to focus on them while studying English Literature at Leeds University. Later, they became an important part of how Elizabeth identified and understood her asexuality.
Elizabeth is a prolific writer, with many fiction works to her name, including her first novel, Silver Hands. A winner of the James White Award and FairyTalez Best Gender Swap Award, over 100 of her short stories and articles have been featured in anthologies and other publications.
Having identified as asexual relatively late in life, Elizabeth wanted to retell some of the fairy tales and myths that helped her name and claim her asexuality.
Elizabeth explained, "AVEN (the Asexual Visibility and Education Network) defines an asexual person as one who does not experience sexual attraction. This term embraces a whole spectrum of different identities and represents around 1% of the population. Most people have never even heard of asexuality, or think it is not real or needs to be cured. Yet many of the tales told by our ancestors seem to be about asexual characters and speak to asexual themes. It is these tales that I wanted to bring to life."
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