Abstract
Abstract: This reader response is about how a seventy-year-old asexual autist began to discover her feminist queer politics by reading Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings at the age of ten. Countering the negative stereotype of feminists (and/or women) disliking Tolkien, Reid describes how her autistic obsession with Tolkien’s world and her love for Éowyn led her first into online Tolkien fandom and then into aca-fandom. She chronicles a journey from feeling isolated and weird in her childhood and adolescence (in small-town Idaho during the 1960s) to finding communities in which her weirdnesses (autism, asexuality, and feminism) were not only accepted but were enthusiastically welcomed.
Recommended Citation
Reid, Robin A.
(2026)
"An Asexual Autist’s Feminist Musings on The Lord of the Rings,"
Journal of Tolkien Research: Vol. 24:
Iss.
1, Article 8.
Available at:
https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol24/iss1/8