In today’s climate, many people like to claim that they are part of a marginalised group. This can offer a shortcut to deferential treatment, endless attention and even media opportunities. But how can you portray yourself as oppressed when you don’t really have much to gripe about? Adopting a trans identity could work. But transitioning seems like an awful lot of effort and commitment. And declaring yourself ‘nonbinary’ is a bit 2019.

This brings me to an individual named Yasmin Benoit. She describes herself on her Twitter profile as an ‘award-winning asexual activist’ and ‘founder of the UK’s first asexual-rights initiative’. Benoit marched at the London Pride parade last weekend. She then tweeted an image of herself waving the ‘asexual pride’ flag (yes, that’s a real thing), while stating:

‘Asexual people deserve equal rights. We deserve legal recognition. We deserve protection. Thank you Stonewall for allowing me to march with you again at Pride in London today and for helping me to bring about this change.’

This perplexing declaration was then shared by Stonewall, the largest LGBT rights organisation in Europe, to its near 260,000 Twitter followers.

The tweet raises a number of questions. For one, in what ways are asexual people being denied equal rights? Which legal protections are they lacking? What specific ‘change’ is Benoit attempting to bring about, other than an increase in her own profile?