The story I'm writing has mature themes, including at least one scene of sex or sexually-explicit content for every romanceable character. That isn't the focus of the game, but it is in there. If on this basis this is not an appropriate topic on this board please let me know and I will delete it. This has been cross-posted on the Adult Games board but the intent of the topic is to explore writing about asexuality rather than going into detail about explicit content, which is why I posted it here as well.
One subplot involves a female character catching her boyfriend cheating on her at the time of their introductions. The mindset of both characters can be explored in the course of mostly optional conversations, in which the boyfriend rationalizes (or at least initially attempts to rationalize) what he did by their apparent physical incompatibility which he could not understand. Over time the girl comes to realize that she is asexual, feeling little to no sexual attraction to anybody.
She has the opportunity to be romanced by several other characters, but I am curious about how to handle her romance paths. I feel like it would be inappropriate or at least out-of-character to just shove in potential sex scenes just to make hers match those of other pairings (multiple different couples can be formed in this).
- I am well aware that Asexuality is not a one size fits all affair, and that some can experience physical attraction to others under certain conditions. Would it seem fair to apply that to her but perhaps to just one or two specific theoretical partners, or would it be considered better representation to stick to the guns of her really not being that way for any of the options she has?
- What are some effective ways to communicate in early romance or pre-romance scenes that "No really, you aren't going to see sex (or are very unlikely to see sex) in her subplot"?
- What are some other ways and/or useful resources for handling the fictional depiction of asexual characters respectfully, as a writer who is not personally asexual?