*Quarantined* Ashabi Owagboriaye : Model, Photographer + Asexual Queen : Chicago, IL

April 12-14, 2020

Ashabi Owagboriaye is a Sensual Queen.

Up until last October, they co-hosted the podcast Beyond Queer Stories which is a platform for queer humans to tell their stories - beyond their queer identity. They are the social media coordinator for Sex Kiki - a sexual positive multimedia group focused on the erotic arts, culture & education centering queer black womxn & femmes. And most importantly, they run their own platform called Ace in Grace, a space to support black and brown femmes in their Asexuality and educate others on the awareness of the spectrum of what being “ace” (a shorthand term for it) means. Because this Nigerian-American Queer Sensual Queen is Asexual themself. In their own words, they’re sex positive but describe themself as being more of a sensual Asexual because of the way they express themself and float between forming romantic and aromantic relationships. Ashabi admits to being frustrated with the response when they come out as asexual because of “how they look or dress”, as if wanting to look fly has anything to do with whose genitals you may or may not want to bump with. This is the work they are trying to do to dismantle these perceptions.

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with what asexuality encompasses, according to the Asexual Visibility & Education Network (AVEN), “An asexual person does not experience sexual attraction – they are not drawn to people sexually and do not desire to act upon attraction to others in a sexual way. Unlike celibacy, which is a choice to abstain from sexual activity, asexuality is an intrinsic part of who we are, just like other sexual orientations. “ Also according to AVEN, “Asexuality is a growing subject of research in psychology, sexology, and other academic fields. While estimates for the asexual proportion of the population are limited and may vary, the most widely cited figure is that we are roughly 1% of the population.”

I highly encourage you to give Ashabi’s page Ace in Grace a follow to continue learning more or if you are craving a community for yourself like that.

Well obviously Ashabi’s sexual identity is not the only point of discussion for this awesome human being, who has been active in the past couple of weeks organizing protests and gatherings in the name of uplifting and recognizing black queer femmes. However, right before the pandemic hit, they were forced out of their neuroscience market research job after filing a complaint against a fellow employee who was racially discriminating them in the office. In the midst of all of this, they decided to take a leap and apply for grad school for Clinical and Mental Health - and, as of these pages - they got in!!! Due to all of the collective circumstances, I want to plug the fact that they have a Fundraiser to help get them through the program. If you’d like to contribute to Ashabi’s grad school fund (and who doesn’t want to see more people like them go into the mental health field??) go here.