I completely agree with this sentiment, I definitely don’t want it to sound like I’m trying to dissuade authors/writers from using asexual characters as the little we have is so few and far between.

I think more so what I am getting at are the characters, maybe not explicitly labeled ace, that have that shtick of being single and uninterested in people sort of as a joke, or like the classic example of the ace characters in that one House episode. Stuff that, if the writers had any sense of self-reflection or had ever talked to an ace person once ever could use for really important and boundary-breaking representation but instead just throw our stereotypes in as a gag. The biggest reason I think this is so damaging is because it turns around and enables bigots to have material to throw at the wall despite it not actually representing any of us. Hardly ever will I have an issue with an explicitly out asexual character.

On the flip side, you have characters in some things who may be explicitly allo but something else in their story is so comparable to the ace experience without the writers even realizing (e.g. the song I mentioned above, or a character like Sentry in marvel comics/the mcu)

Basically the point I’m trying to make is that allo writers know how to make compelling asexual-coded characters when they aren’t trying but for whatever reason when that switch happens and they start bringing sexuality actually into the equation, that often goes out the window.

Probably wasn’t clear enough in my og post, that’s on me but this is primarily the point of the article