DrunkCat

Yep... it's why I've largely given up not only on the wider queer community but on the ace community itself. Cuz I've seen this for almost 2 decades now, and all these "education" efforts only result in giving aphobes more ammo.

Yeah, the creator doesn't get to go "omg everyone else is so tropey", then do the same tired YA dating stories that are basically the only stories that ever get greenlit about aces/aros. It's like Alice Oseman decrying book bans of Heartstopper by throwing every other banned book under the bus as "unwholesome".

I'm saying this as an aroace person who is an actual adult - I HATE that so much of our visibility is limited to romance slop like dating sims or teen dramas, and how the mere concept of us existing requires a "teaching moment". By now, it should be obvious that no one wants to learn about us except as a fun new target for insults (see this comment section for examples, including "aces are secret p*dos"). Also, it only furthers concepts such as "aces/aros have no inner lives beyond their orientation & dull tales of dating woes" and "aces/aros are all Zoomers & this never existed until the 2000s". That so many of our "own voices" creators like this are willing to keep enforcing these limits & get celebrated for it isn't helping one bit.

But the response to the books, focused on the gripping, page-turning action, never quite matched up with Collins’ philosophical intentions.
Given that 90% of the response was "But who will Katniss be kissing at the end of the book, that's the only thing that matters in this entire universe & narrative", I can totally understand her growing frustrations & increasing bluntness.