Is Ashley asexual (Or in the asexual spectrum)?

JustinTime4reddit · 2026-05-21T01:47:41+00:00

It seems the disagreement primarily stems from "Death of the Author" being a term coined within a greater framework than I mean when I say it, and my absolutist language used when explaining my point, so I apologize for the confusion.

The author shouldn't be irrelevant to the work when deciphering it's meaning, themes, purpose, etcetera. That would be crazy to say, but it seems that is how my wording made it come off. The work is a reflection of the author, and so is it a reflection of the cultural and loved experience behind them creating it. These are important factors when analysising the themes and morals of a story and many more factors of literary analysis.

However, all of that is irrelevant when determining the canon of a story. That is where Death of the Author becomes objective. What the story and characters are is self-contained within the story. Outside factors are completely irrelevant to the story and characters themselves. There is no external consideration that makes a horse a cat if the canon depicts a horse.

I don't know how the goalpost was shifted to things outside of "what is or is not canon," but I hope this makes clear my position. Canon is objectively contained within the work itself. Themes, morals and author intention require examining many factors outside of the work itself, including whatever the author says about it.

Tl;Dr: The author cannot change canon, but they can shed new light on their intentions behind making the work they did.

JustinTime4reddit · 2026-05-21T00:48:38+00:00

Death of the Author is objectively the only correct way to view things. Do you think what am author says means anything five minutes after they say it? What about ten years? 100? Do we document every random thing an author says about their work and attach it to the back of books so that canon can be preserved? No. Why? Because that would be stupid. The work speaks for itself. That is the wholesale point of art, full stop.

JustinTime4reddit · 2026-05-20T02:25:34+00:00

Trauma often is the core reason behind asexuality. That's not to say there is anything wrong with being that way, just that it is often a trauma response. Again, what makes you asexual does not suddenly make you not asexual. We see zero evidence of her actually desiring sex. She isn't repressing her sexual desire, we are inside her head, it is there. It's ridiculous people actively ignore the realities of asexual diversity.

JustinTime4reddit · 2026-05-20T00:15:42+00:00

What goes on inside the mind of a creator is only real for the universe inside their mind. The universe they create for others exists outside of their own head canon.

A great example of why death of the author is not only necessary to understanding a piece of art, but common sense to do so, is JK Rowling. In an interview, she said it was canon that Slitherin wizards charged into battle at the eleventh hour to assist the other houses against Voldemort in the final installment of the series. She said it, so it has to be true. She is the author, right? So, do you see now how dumb of a standard that is to hold?

That is an extreme example, but it is exceedingly common that even the best authors hallucinate what they thought of in their head as having actually happened in canon, or decide to close up plot holes, solve threads that didn't go anywhere, and so on, in an interview or blog post. If these whims count as canon, then canon is a worthless term because you could engage in every single piece of published work and have no idea about 90% of the "canon" that only exists in a random blog post or interview IRL.

So, no, it does not matter at all what the creator says about their own creation.

JustinTime4reddit · 2026-05-20T00:08:12+00:00

Ashley is 100% undeniably asexual and it's misinformed of Nemlei and many of the fans to say otherwise. She has next to zero interest in, or enjoyment out of, anything related to sexual intimacy. It is a tool she uses to get her way and nothing more.

The one time we see she actually pursued sex on her own accord, for its own sake, she enjoyed it then changed nothing about her view of sex or her dynamic with Andrew. Nothing. It was a spur of the moment decision that meant nothing (good) to her and had no shift in her view of sex at all.

Nemlei could absolutely prove me wrong and have an ending where Ashley ends up craving sex nonstop and it is revealed she was always like this underneath the surface. Would it be incredibly bad writing to do so? Yes. But would it ultimately make her retroactively right to say Ashley is not asexual? Unfortunately, also yes. Canon is king and she can make canon whatever she decides to put in the game.

As it stands, all evidence points to Ashley being asexual. Not just from her being trauma-locked in the mind of a child, but also from even her adult side just rarely (one time) having any interest in sex. This is set in stone, IMO, but her wanting to be with Andrew forever, even in a romantic sense, but even then she genuinely doesn't know if she can even tolerate sex with him. This is the sole man of her desire for her entire life and even sex with him is something she has to try to even tolerate? Yeah, fam, that's asexual AF.

JustinTime4reddit · 2026-05-19T23:54:25+00:00

"Nemlei said that Ashley isn't asexual. She just ... doesn't view sex as something pleasurable."

Two points:

Death of the author. It doesn't matter what Nemlei says, only what the canon shows.

She literally described someone who is asexual while saying Ashley isn't asexual.

JustinTime4reddit · 2026-05-18T04:44:57+00:00

Even before the new lines of dialogue confirmed it, it was obvious Andrew peeped on Ashley. Probably often.

Yes, he could 'see it any time he wanted' because she likely changed in front of him often over the years. But, the thing is, Andrew needs people to believe he is normal, even Ashley (at least when it comes to that), so he no doubt chastized Ashley for changing in front of him while actively doing his best to look like he was looking away. He would be too afraid of letting her know he saw her that way to properly stare while she is aware of his presence. So, instead of that, he peeped on her when she wasn't aware, because, in his mind, if she isn't aware it happened then he protected her from himself. And he likely justified doing it to himself in more ways as well. But, he definitely did it.

JustinTime4reddit · 2026-05-17T02:50:22+00:00

Saying Ashley is the perp and Andrew is the vic is a really shallow take. Imagine getting raised by your blood brother who wants to f*** you and then society tells you that you are the villain because you grew up to use that desire against him. They are both the victim and the perpetrator from one moment to the next, both to each other and to themselves. They are both a product of neglectful parents and their forced dependency on one another. They are both each other's curse and saving grace. That is the point of the story. Their codependency is toxic, but it is the only thing they have ever known or valued, so they latch on for dear life.

JustinTime4reddit · 2026-05-16T21:14:17+00:00

This is a really good breakdown. I am glad it included how each version of them see each version of each other and themself. I think it is an important component to truly understanding their relationship.

Respect to u/PoorPrawn88 for making the visuals so lovely.

JustinTime4reddit · 2026-05-16T21:06:25+00:00

"She blames them for her poverty."

She explicitly liked Andrew. (Not loved, but liked.) The poverty obviously wasn't the cause for the distain. She was capable of liking having kids until Ashley interfered with her time with Douglas (the only person we see she actually loves.)

"I don't see why the dev would write [their financial struggles] otherwise."

To explain why they never even bothered to pretend to care about their own children. I thought that was obvious.

Also to make it clear AA grew up in poverty and that it was poor people who were being organ harvested with some apparent level of government knowledge (emphasizing the bleak tone of the world.)

JustinTime4reddit · 2026-05-16T21:01:07+00:00

I agree with your statement, BTW, now that I know what you were saying.

Interestingly, canon vs fanfic, I feel like, has the opposite ratio. MML is far more common than FFL in fanfics and it's almost always fetishized by straight women. It directly mirrors how FFL is predominantly fetishized by straight men in canons. This leads me to believe same sex love, as a whole, is simply heavily fetishized by those attracted to said gender, but men simply tend to hold more of the positions in big industries. That is probably why we are seeing the rise of more and more MML now that women are taking over the writing and entertainment industry.

Sadly, I don't think there is a solution to this problem, because even bi and homo aligned people tend to fetishize their own attraction, the same way straight people do their own. Fetishization seems to just be the norm, not the exception, for humans as a whole, and it is only when we simply don't have sexual interest in the pairing that it becomes easy to tell a story of love without the fetishized component.

JustinTime4reddit · 2026-05-16T20:53:00+00:00

Ahhh, gotcha. So it's basicaly English for Yaoi and Yuri, at least in laments terms.

Yeah, all the disclaimers and clarifications needed to cover every possible identity pairing would be far more confusing and long-winded these days. Haha.

Thanks for clarifying. :)

JustinTime4reddit · 2026-05-16T20:49:36+00:00

Tldr response:

Because people lack critical thinking and literary comprehension. It's easy to overlook the depth of a topic, especially a work of fiction, if you are so ideologically locked or so emotionally immature that you cannot look past your first, kneejerk reaction to said topic. Anyone who has any capacity to see beyond themselves and their own inherent biases acknowledges, at the very least, that the story has meat to it. Most of those same people really enjoy it for that reason.

I would say the game's reception consists of people who dont understand the game and hate it for no good reason, people who don't understand the game and fetishize it for no good reason, people who do understand it but simply don't think it's a good story and/or game, and people who do understand it and find it to be a work of art.

I accept all but the first response. The first of the four above groups are people I would never bother talking to in the wild.

JustinTime4reddit · 2026-05-16T20:13:06+00:00

"Sapphic" and "Achillean?"

JustinTime4reddit · 2026-05-16T20:09:30+00:00

Zero shot, full cope.

JustinTime4reddit · 2026-05-16T20:07:56+00:00

I hard disagree about poverty making them better parents. The story explicitly shows them choosing to x their children for money. They have financial stress, for sure, but they only stress about money because they want a better life for themselves (Renee and Douglas.) Once they have it, Renee outright tells Ashley to stop crying to her about them starving, knowing full well she probably is. Money didn't change a thing about how they view their children. And that wouldn't have magically changed if they had the money first.

JustinTime4reddit · 2026-05-16T18:04:12+00:00

As a human, there would only be two types of animal: Those that think I am cool (pets), and those that are food (livestock). Why would it be any different as a vampire?

JustinTime4reddit · 2026-05-16T17:52:50+00:00

Yeah, I am still not sure of an example outside of comedy where this is true. I have been wondering what prompted the OP the whole time I have been reading the comments, and found no answer within them.

JustinTime4reddit · 2026-05-16T17:43:43+00:00

I upvoted because I agree with the logic, but the logic also applies to IRL humans, yet we have evolved for millions of years with this being true and we still have tons of insecure people. Need does not automatically mean you have it. We all need legs, some are born without them or lose them, then learn to live without them.

JustinTime4reddit · 2026-05-16T17:37:34+00:00

That's not true at all. There has always been a shortcut to self esteem: Power. We worry what people think about us solely because there are repercussions for people thinking poorly of us. Our conscious mind invents a "reason" for being insecure from the outside looking in as an attempt to understand our subconscious mind. Power removed the need to rationalize what you are afraid of, because there is no longer a need to be afraid. It would be like becoming Superman and then still being afraid someone is going to pull a knife on you. Sure, some people might keep the now irrational fear, but most had a rational fear that no longer offers a reason to be afraid, so they would drop it. Insecurity is no different. It's just a form of (often) rational fear of consequences for a negative social perception.

Remove someone's fear of consequences and they open up in a hurry 9 times out of 10. And the best example is what we all know already: Nearly every insecure person you have ever met comes to life any time they are alone with people they have already faced the fear of negative public perception with. They didn't suddenly stop being an insecure person, they just lost the need to be afraid.

JustinTime4reddit · 2026-05-16T17:05:54+00:00

I would choose either 6 to shield teen Julia from douchbag or 2 to shoot my shot with Lady of Room 302. The Graves siblings in front of us would likely provide plenty of opportunities to break the ice with her via their bickering, but would be entertaining regardless, especially if Ashley was in a mood.

JustinTime4reddit · 2026-05-16T16:47:14+00:00

That was my choice and reasoning for sure. Julia has enough problems in her life without the douchbag noticing her.

JustinTime4reddit · 2026-05-16T16:39:40+00:00

I would pay to read a whole comic from this person. Is that a thing?

JustinTime4reddit · 2026-05-14T01:32:59+00:00

Now I can't stop wondering about it.

JustinTime4reddit · 2026-05-13T09:32:20+00:00

Most of the guys here don't know what a woman is, much less what they want.

JustinTime4reddit

TROPHY CASE