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During my time as a science reporter at The Verge, I began a side project to understand the role of sexual attraction in Western culture and how the existence of asexuality can open up new avenues for understanding what draws humans to each other. The result is Ace, which is about language and philosophy, medicine, categorization and social construction, and more.
Praise
Named one of the standout books of 2020 by NPR, Electric Literature, Them, and Shondaland
Selected for the 2021 Over the Rainbow Booklist by the American Library Association
"How can asexuality and the ace perspective challenge the biases of compulsory sexuality and relationship hierarchies? This is the central question of the book, and Chen expertly and beautifully nudges this discussion forward...Ace is a fantastic starting point for dismantling harmful sexual narratives and reimagining human connection as a broader, more equitable, enjoyable and free experience." — The Washington Post
"This book is her thoughtful attempt to develop a more useful lexicon for aces than we’ve had before...I was struck most by Chen’s honesty, the sentences of intimate reflection that appear in the margins of her argument throughout..." — The New York Times
"The book allows us to imagine how much more we could get from our relationships if we were able to free ourselves from restrictive ideas of what we’re supposed to feel and do." — NPR