A relatively new day of significance on the annual calendar is International Asexuality Day, which is marked each year on 6 April.
The date was chosen so it would not clash with the many other days of recognition that fill the calendar, and it was first celebrated in 2021.
Asexuality is defined as a lack of sexual attraction to others, or a low interest in sexual activity.
As a field of research, it is relatively new, but scientists and advocates are quick to highlight that asexuality is different from abstention from sex or vows of celibacy.
Alongside International Asexual Day there’s also Asexual Awareness Week in late October.
Filmmaker Monica Teut was born in 1954
Monika Treut is an acclaimed German filmmaker whose work spans a wide variety of narrative films and documentaries exploring queer themes.
While studying literature and political science in the 1970s, she began using video as part of her work. Her debut film, Seduction: The Cruel Woman, was released in 1985 and explored sadomasochistic sexual practices.
She later spent time in the USA, where she worked with Annie Sprinkle and Werner Schroeter, and she went on to make films about both.
Treut has undertaken many roles in her filmmaking process, including acting, writing, directing, producing, and editing. Her films cover a wide range of topics.
Among her many works are Virgin Machine (1988), My Father Is Coming (1991), Female Misbehavior (1992), Erotique (1994), Gendernauts: A Journey Through Shifting Identities (1999), Lesbian Nation (2009), and Genderation (2021).
Image: Monica Treut in 2009 published under a Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0 license.
