"You might think it’s hypocritical, but I want to change society’s idea of what an asexual person is ‘meant’ to be." - Yasmin Benoit

I don’t believe that anyone has to announce their sexuality (or lack of it) but staying quiet meant that there was an unwanted disparity between my public persona and my private one. I didn’t feel like I was being true to myself. I started modeling with the goal of providing representation for alternative black women, and showing that you don’t need to be a white to be alternative. At the same time, I was consciously aware of the lack of representation for asexual people – especially asexual people of colour. And I was doing nothing about it, even though the lack of visibility for asexual people led to my own alienation, and the alienation of many others like myself.

Benoit came out publicly with a video on Youtube. "Much to my surprise, it launched my journey into asexuality activism."

And while pushing forward in my campaigning, I’ve also continued to push forward with my modeling career, and caused confusion as a result. “If you’re asexual, why do you do lingerie shoots?” is a common comment I hear a lot. To many people, it’s as though being asexual and a lingerie model doesn’t make sense – as though the two are completely incompatible.

Continue reading I’m Asexual, And I’m A Lingerie Model. Here’s How I Balance The Two.

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