Asexual Visibility and Education Network


The Asexual Visibility and Education Network is an online community founded in 2001 by David Jay and classed as a 5014 non-profit since June 2022. By 2021, it had 135,539 members, according to Michael Doré, one of its members in the UK who works with their project team.

Purpose

When first starting the website, AVEN's main goals were "building community and… legitimising asexuality as a sexual orientation."
AVEN serves simultaneously as an informational platform, a space for fostering community, and as a forum for facilitating discussion.

Impact

Improving academic understanding of asexuality

A study performed by Kristin S. Scherrer on asexual identity was published in 2008 that focused on analyzing survey responses from 102 individuals that identified themselves as asexual. This study brought asexual perspectives into academic research at a time when there was relatively little academic literature available on the topic of asexuality, and even less that approached it as an identity rather than simply a behavior or desire.
The participants for this study were found and recruited through AVEN's website. In addition to contributing to the ability to acquire the necessary participants, AVEN served to inform the responses given by participants as well. For example, when asked to describe what an asexual identity meant to them, 44% of respondents closely echoed the definition of asexuality as found on AVEN's website. One respondent referred directly to AVEN in response to this question. Scherrer's study has been cited by many studies since, indicating the study and AVEN's contributions to it have had further impact on academic research.

Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder (HSDD) and the DSM-5

AVEN is responsible for the creation of the AVEN DSM Task Force. As the American Psychiatric Association began efforts to make revisions that would become the new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, this task force sought to petition for changes regarding sexual desire disorders.

Activities

One of the central parts of AVEN is the community forum where users post about their experiences surrounding asexuality. In an interview with Femestella, Jay highlighted the importance of such open spaces for people who are unsure of their sexuality and having support to understand themselves better. The forums exist in many languages.

Publication

AVEN publishes a newsletter called AVENues every four months. It collects content from the community and includes fiction, poetry, articles and also publishes discussion pieces from the forum.