#analyticcataclysm

[entropy-sea-system]

Hello again! So I'm the anon here, I made a small list of the questions I wanted to ask! (Feel free to skip any of them if they trigger repulsion though, since I wasn't sure on some of them)

1 - Is it possible to be aplatonic but alloqueerplatonic?

2 - Can one be apl but still want close bonds with people? (Best example I could think of is close acquaintances or "unlabeled bonds", if those are even things?)

3 - Would it be apl(spec) to have plato attraction but have it be very rare, weak, or only when specific criteria is met?

4 - Is it possible to suddenly/gradually lose plato attraction (in general, not to a specific person)?

5 - Is it a possible indicator of being apl to not really feel anything "special" towards friends? (Like enjoying their company/personality but being otherwise indifferent towards them)

5.5 - With the above: Is it a possible indicator of being apl to view plato attraction/relationships as being a performance/metaphor, not actual "feelings" towards someone?

1- yeah, there are people who are aplatonic and alloqueerplatonic ! (some may assume there arent just bc the old definition of aplatonic claimed it means 'does not want qprs' - but thats not what aplatonic means. People are welcome to use the outdated definition for themself if they want but literally even the coiner of aplatonic (mr shuttershy on AVEN) never even made that definition of apl. )

2- yeah, and some apls are allo- for other attractions, and/or favorable to one or more types of close bond or relationship. (I for example have close bonds with my sexual and romantic-sexual partners bc Im demiro and allosexual, but dont want acquaintances or friends or qprs etc. bc Im repulsed by those)

3- yeah, that would be aplspec as aplatonic can also include little bit of platonic attraction, rare attraction, conditional attraction, etc. same as w how it works for aro and ace, etc.

4- yeah, it is possible. some people experience this. I dont know if there is an umbrella term for when this occurs, but if it occurred due to trauma its called caedplatonic (if one has ptsd or cptsd) and erasplatonic (if one does not have those disorders)

5- it could be, I felt like that back when I thought I wanted friends, and Ive heard other apls talk about finding friendship to be like this as well

5.5- it can be, since some of us arent familiar with how it feels to feel platonic attraction and/or truly like friendship and desire it, we may see it as 'not real' or assume everyone else is exaggerating how much they like friendship. Even if it is in fact real to people who experience it (and I don't believe its correct to actually call it, or any other attraction or relationship actually fake bc that invalidates peoples experiences)

And from my experience, unlike what some people assume, its really not just alloplatonic aros who are obsessed with friendship (some people, especially those who try to gatekeep the apl label as being only for aros, they claim there is 'no expectation to care about friendship outside of the aro community', and thus often assume this). Ive seen plenty of alloromantic people be incredibly invested in friendship and its also been very confusing to me that they even feel that much about friends and friendship as a whole, as a nonfriending apl who has never felt that.