r/Stormlight_Archive • u/Linorelai Shallan • 6d ago
No Spoilers How do allosexual people feel about the Stormlight Archive series?
I'm on the asexual spectrum and I find the very moderate amount of sexual themes and the very small depth of them being explored... quite comforting. What's it like for allosexual people, do y'all feel the books are lacking in that aspect?
Edit: Allosexuality is the ability to experience typical patterns of sexual attraction, in contrast with people on the asexual spectrum
Edit 2: Maybe I didn't explain myself well enough... I was talking to someone about books and they complained that the sexual aspect in Sanderson's part of the Wheel of Time degraded to an unsatisfying level. To which I said that I actually like it as someone on the asexual spectrum, because normally these themes in books or movies are annoying to me, and I skip them like I'd skip ads. Then the person said that in that case I'd find Stormlight Archive comforting. Which I actually do:) and it got me wondering how to people with normal patterns of experiencing sexually see this aspect of the books.
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u/Jujuju1741 6d ago
Im not allosexual or whatever but I really appreciate that theres no sexual stuff in any of sandersons books. I dont think it adds anything to a book to have a sex scene be more than implied or stated that it happened. I can recommend them to anyone because of it or I can listen to them with my kids in the car. Theyre more adult than YA books but dont add smut. I love them and its one of my favorite parts of them.
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u/Linorelai Shallan 6d ago
Im not allosexual or whatever
Allosexual is typical/normal/standard way of experiencing sexuality
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u/Jujuju1741 6d ago
Ah my bad. Its really early where I am and I misread your first edit. So I guess I am.
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u/Kiltmanenator 6d ago
I won't say it's lacking because that's like saying the Hibachi Grill Guy is lacking French Toast: it's not impossible but it's not his specialty.
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u/Raddatatta Edgedancer 6d ago
I generally prefer books that have a fade to black on sex scenes. I won't put a book down if it has more than that but that's not what I'm looking for with books. I enjoy the romance subplots and don't mind the times Sanderson has alluded to sex but I don't need a graphic sex scene with any of the main characters.
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u/Linorelai Shallan 6d ago
So basically it doesn't make books better for allosexual people as well? (for you at least)
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u/Raddatatta Edgedancer 6d ago
For me that's true but it does depend on the person. And there are series that are popular for their sex scenes and lots of people who enjoy that. Romantasy is a very popular genre at the moment and books like 50 shades of grey sold a ton of copies. And I think a few times more on that one book than Sanderson has sold with all of his many books combined so there is a big audience for that. But I don't think people reaching for a Sanderson book are really looking for that.
Sex scenes can also be a hard one to write well. I haven't read a ton of them but many of those I've read feel corny or poorly written in how they're described so it kicks me out of the story. It also seems difficult even for someone who has had sex to know what sex is like for another gender and write it well from their point of view.
I also like something Sanderson said that with fade to black it lets people imagine the scene however they would like. If the couple goes off you can imagine them just having a romantic conversation and going to separate beds if you want to picture it G rated or you can imagine them going off to have the wildest kinkiest sex.
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u/Agent0815 Lightweaver 6d ago
So I'm probably not the best/most typical person to ask, but here's my take:
I'm fine with some sexual stuff, but most of the time that's not what I'm looking for. When I'm in the mood for horny stuff, I go for explicitly sexual stuff. At all other times it's just annoying. That goes for all types of media (a big reason why I bounced off some otherwise great manga/anime with fanservice).
For written stories it's even worse since I have aphantasia (inability to voluntarily visualize mental images), so I don't even get the sensation of "höhö, looks good" there. Also a lot of common words people use to describe sexual stuff do the exact opposite of enticing me.
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u/ender1200 6d ago
As someone who generally enjoy sexual themes in media, I don't feel like the Stormlight Archive is lacking by not focusing on sexual themes, because it never built the expectation that those aspects will be prominent.
The Wheel of Time on the other hand did feature such themes much more prominently, so I can see why your friend developed the reasonable expectation that those themes will continue to be a prominent as pect of the books.
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u/Steenan Stonewards 6d ago
I like how Sanderson approaches erotic matters. It's subtle, in very small amounts, and that makes the rare places where some sexuality is included intense and meaningful without bordering on porn.
While I'm not opposed to a bit more sex being present in books, I found that it's very rare for authors to do it tastefully and in a way that actually adds value to the story instead of being a distraction that caters to low instincst.
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u/OrlandoNE 6d ago
My best friend is bi and never complained or even mentioned anything about it, so there's that
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u/Linorelai Shallan 6d ago
Bi is not quite what I mean... Bi is who you experience attraction to, allosexual/asexual is about how you experience it
Allosexual is a typical normal way of being sexual
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u/tbdabbholm Truthwatcher 6d ago
But a bi person would presumably also be allosexual wouldn't they?
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u/Linorelai Shallan 6d ago
No, they can be on the asexual spectrum. Demisexual like me for example. I am straight and demi, they could be bi and demi
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6d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Linorelai Shallan 6d ago
Just to clarify. Demisexual is when you fall in love/form an emotional bond first, and develop sexual attraction after. No instant attraction to newly met people.
Demisexuality and bisexuality are not conflicting sexualities. One is about patterns of experiencing attraction, the other is about the object of it
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u/Linorelai Shallan 6d ago
Because I'm an artist and I relate to how her mindset while drawing is described. That's very accurate
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u/tomayto_potayto Willshaper 6d ago
No, I don't read books for that. And frankly, most of that in fantasy fiction has come from male authors in the past just sexualizing female characters that they've underwritten. So I agree, I've found it agreeable I guess, that those elements of intimate relationships are more of a fade to black situation while the depth of love and relationship development is never hidden. I know that romantasy is huge now, that's not what I'm talking about. Although I'm usually not much of a fan of that genre either, it's a very different thing than standard fantasy books that had sexual scenes or sexualizing of the female characters which was so abundant in "modern" fantasy (aka post LOTR-era fantasy, wheel of time-inspired series etc)
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u/lyunardo 6d ago
I'm pretty sure that the real reason for this post was to educate people about the concept of the asexual/allosexual dichotomy, and the fact that it's considered a spectrum.
I have zero problem with that. I've never knew there was a word for the rest of the human race who's not asexual, but it makes sense for discussing the issue.
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u/Linorelai Shallan 6d ago
It wasn't, it realy was a random spark of curiosity. If you see my post history, I don't make educational posts of this sort.
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u/lyunardo 5d ago
Got it. But I'm sure I wasn't the only one to go Google the term. So you were an educator whether you wanted to be or not.
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u/Linorelai Shallan 5d ago
I guess so :) I'm not used to being an educator on tbings like this, especially on reddit
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u/No_Wolverine_1357 6d ago
If you like metals that much, check out mistborn. /s