The 57 Bus

The 57 Bus

by

Dashka Slater

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The 57 Bus makes teaching easy.
A sexual identity that “mostly doesn’t feel sexual attraction but does occasionally.” Sasha identifies as gray-cupiosexual, meaning they “don’t feel sexual attraction, but are still interested in sex.”

Gray sexual Quotes in The 57 Bus

The The 57 Bus quotes below are all either spoken by Gray sexual or refer to Gray sexual. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Gender and Sexuality Theme Icon
).
Part 1: Genderqueer Quotes

Most of us see gender and sexuality and romance as one big interconnected tangle of feelings—this is who I am, this is who I’m attracted to, this is who I love. But as Sasha began exploring the topic online, they found that some people had developed language for combing the tangle into individual strands. In these online conversations, the word sex referred purely to biology—the chromosomes, organs, and anatomy that define male and female from the outside. Gender was the word for what people felt about themselves, how they felt inside. Sexuality was the category for who you were physically attracted to. Romantic was the category for who you felt romantic attraction to. And there was a whole array of distinctions within each category as well. It was like a gigantic menu, with columns and columns of choices.

Related Characters: Sasha
Page Number: 32
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The 57 Bus LitChart as a printable PDF.
The 57 Bus PDF

Gray sexual Term Timeline in The 57 Bus

The timeline below shows where the term Gray sexual appears in The 57 Bus. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 1: Gender, Sex, Sexuality, Romance: Some Terms
Gender and Sexuality Theme Icon
Binary Thought and Inclusive Language Theme Icon
...others in a sexual way, “but is still interested in sex,” while someone who is “graysexual” only feels sexual attraction “occasionally.” “Heterosexuals” feel attraction for the opposite gender, and a “homosexual”... (full context)
Part 1: Sasha’s Terms
Gender and Sexuality Theme Icon
Binary Thought and Inclusive Language Theme Icon
Slater also includes a list of Sasha’s preferred terms. It reads: “Agender. / Gray-cupiosexual. / Quoiromantic / Also: Vegan.” (full context)