#and not ace + aro as an afterthought

[contagious-watermelon]

i love the visibility and inclusion we aromantics get

[heartless-aro]

Reminder that just because a character isn’t explicitly referred to as aspec doesn’t mean that it isn’t harmful to the aspec community when the character is written in a way that implicitly ties their cruelty or their violence or their evil acts to their disinterest in romance, sex, or other forms of relationships. Dexter Morgan may have never been called aromantic or asexual in-text, but when I came out as aro ace to my family, I still got a reaction of “Oh, so like the main character from Dexter! He doesn’t have interest in those sort of relationships either, because he’s a serial killer.”

J.K. Rowling may have never called Voldemort aromantic, but she did directly tie his evil acts and his choice to be a genocidal monster to the fact that he cannot feel love. People have told me that this wasn’t arophobic of her at all, because “his inability to love is psychopathy, not aromanticism!” Ableism against people with personality disorders aside, this doesn’t actually change the fact that Rowling’s writing, specifically her characterization of Voldemort, is deeply arophobic. When I read the Harry Potter series as a kid, it made me feel broken and dirty, and I remember realizing abruptly that this writer whose work I had gotten so invested in would likely have seen a part of me—which I didn’t yet have the words to describe but which was a core part of my being—as something evil, immoral, and shameful.

Anyway, a character doesn’t have to identify as aromantic or as asexual to be written in a way that’s arophobic and/or acephobic. Discussions of aro coding and ace coding are often relegated to the realm of headcanons, and that can make it feel almost like we aren’t “allowed” to call out arophobia and acephobia in mainstream media. This character who kicks puppies and commits genocide every other Tuesday due to being incapable of love isn’t really aromantic, right? That’s just a headcanon.

But even without our words being used to describe these characters, we are still harmed by the existence of characters who are evil because they don’t love or who are just too evil and gross for the writers to feel comfortable imagining them in a sexual or romantic relationship (We don’t want to think about Dark Lord Puppy Kicker kissing someone or having SEX! Ew! He’s far too repulsive to be thought of in such a light. Let’s just imply he doesn’t care for such things.). This rant is a bit messy and disorganized because I’m very tired, but hopefully y’all get what I’m trying to say.

[moinsbienquekaworu]

The struggle between being happy that all kinds of aspecs are talking about aspec experiences more and barely being able to stand the way people talk about aspec experiences

[actual-corpse]

I wish I was allowed to be lgbt+

I wonder if I would be happier. Feel more fulfilled. Find love, not only external but also internal.

[pansexual-pied-piper]

Hate how some ppl seem to read aro as afterthought

[communitypoolswimlessons]

Aromantic/Aro-spec people deserve visibility. Asexual/Ace-spec people deserve visibility.

[sarocasm]

Total aces: 55

Total aros: 36 1/2 (counting the Shadowhunters one as 1/2 due to the show un-aroing the character)

Confirmed aces: 41

Confirmed aros: 21 1/2

Aroaces: 35 1/2

Alloaros: 1

Alloaces (& possibly non-SAM aces): 19 1/2

List/ Collage with A-Spec Characters: canon confirmed, and popular headcanons

Colours:

Canon confirmed: blue

popular headcanon/ speculation: orange

Alastor, Hazbin Hotel: ace, aro

Senku Ishigami, Dr. Stone: ace, aro

Vi Moradi, Star Wars: ace, aro

Victor Vale, Vicious: ace, biromantic

Spongebob: ace

Kirby: ace, aro, non-binary

the Knight, Hollow Knight: agender, ace, aro

Todd Chavez, BoJack Horseman: ace

Georgia Warr, Loveless: ace, aro, aego?

Jughead Jones, Archie: ace

Doomguy/ Dooomslayer: ace

Seiji Maki, Bloom into you: ace, aro, aegoromantic?

Monkey D. Luffy, One Piece: ace, aro

Connor Hawke, DC Comics: ace, alloromantic

Perry the platypus: ace, aro

Kusuo Saiki, Disastrous life of Saiki K.: ace, aro

Yelena Belova, Marvel: ace, aro

Izaya Orihara, Durara: ace, aro

Daryl Dixon, the Walking Dead: ace

Keyleth, Critical Role: demisexual

Neil Josten, Foxhole Court: demisexual, demiromantic

Isaac Henderson, Heartstopper: ace, aro

Vernestra Rwoh, Star Wars: ace, aro

Light Yagami, Death Note: ace, aro

Caduceus Clay, Critical Role: ace, aro

Murderbot, Murderbot Diaries: ace, aro, genderless

Jonathan "Jon" Simms, Magnus Archives: ace, biromantic

Shouto Todoroki, Boku no Hero Academia: ace, aro

Lilith Clawthorne, Owl House: ace, aro

Bill Cypher, Gravity Falls: ace, aro, agender

Ezperanza "Spooner" Cruz, Legends of Tomorrow: ace

Nadia Van Dyne/ the Wasp, Marvel: ace, aro, quoiromantic

Peridot, Stephen Universe: ace, aro

Gwenpool, Marvel: ace, aro

Frieren: ace, aro/ aspec

Joffrey Baratheon, Game of Thrones: ace, aro

Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle: ace, aro

Lord Varys, Game of Thrones: ace, aro

Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano, Percy Jackson: ace, aro

Son Goku, Dragonball: ace

10th Doctor, Doctor Who (David Tennant): ace, panromantic

11th Doctor, Doctor Who (Matt Smith): ace

Sakuko Kodama, Koisenu Futari: ace, aro

Satoru Takahashi, Koisenu Futari: ace, aro

Felicity Montague, Lady's guide to petticoats and piracy: ace, aro

Jasnah Kholin, Stormlight Archive: ace, heteroromantic

Loth, Priory of the Orange Tree: grey-ace

Tané, Priory of the Orange Tree: ace, aro

Adèle, Baker Thief: demisexual, bi

Claire/ Claude, Baker Thief: aro (aroallo!), genderfluid

Sandry, Circle of Magic: ace

Ling Chan, the Diviners: ace, lesbian

Nancy Whitman, Every Heart a Doorway: ace, alloromantic

Kel, Protector of the Small: ace, aro

Natalie, Natural History of Dragons: ace, aro

Raphael Santiago, Shadowhunters: Cassandra Clare: ace, aro (In the show only ace)

Please note that I took most of my information from online, and I didn't personally read/ watch everything, so there may be some mistakes. Also, some of the not-canon characters are very likely aspec, but just not confirmed. And especially if they say/ do really obviously aro/ ace stuff, I wasn't sure if it's enough to put them in the "confirmed" category. (e.g. Saiki literally said he isn't attracted to anyone regardless of gender, and never wants to be in a relationship. But there are still people who doubt his aroace-ness. (And at this point I don't see how it could be anything but aphobia, to deny the mere possibility of him being aroace so vehemently lol.) ) Also: Sadly, I couldn't find good aro-allo characters except Claire/ Claude from "baker thief". There is tons of good a-spec representation in that book (also more side characters that I didn't mention here), but I couldn't really find any fan-art. So then I just slapped the entire book cover on the collage.

[our-arospec-experience]

The whole time I’ve identified as aromantic, I’ve also identified as ace, because I don’t feel sexual attraction. But the ace label has always made me uncomfortable, and feels wrong, I guess.

Figuring out I was Aro meant lots of things clicked, and I felt relieved to know it. It felt important and is the huge banner of my sexuality. The ace part however I was just kinda like yeah sure whatever, and it’s kinda an afterthought. Being aromantic means so much to me, and feels like my whole sexuality. I’m proud of it.

But with sexual attraction, honestly, I don’t really feel I’m ace-spec or allo. And I know that may sound weird but it’s just me. The ace label makes me uncomfortable if referring to me (no internalised acephobia, they’re lovely folks, some of my favourite people are ace - I’m just unhappy if it’s describing me).

I know this is an Aro blog, so it may be weird I brought up asexuality here, but I wanted to know if it’s possible that maybe I’m just an aro identity I don’t know about, because lately it feels like that.

If not thanks for reading anyway, it felt good to get out. To anyone reading this: you are valid and I hope you have an amazing day. You deserve it. -💚👾 (if that’s not taken <2)

thanks for sharing :) ! You can absolutely fit a label and yet not want to use it, you are still valid.

[sheyri]

My Triple A experience at Pride

I love going to Pride. Being among fellow queer people, loud music, blocking traffic with our demonstration, and just vibing. I try to attend as many as I can and travel for hours on full trains if necessary.

Big Prides are great, but I especially love smaller ones in rural areas. It's less of a party and more of a demonstration, as it should be. Unfortunately rural in my area means risking confrontations with nazis, but that's a different story.

But no matter how much I love being at Pride, there's always this underlying feeling of being excluded.

Even at smaller Prides, I'm usually not the only person with an ace flag. Occasionally you can find someone with an aro flag, sometimes even an aroace person. Rarely someone with an agender flag. Though there are more people with those as pins or other accessories. But hey, most people just have the rainbow flag and no one has to disclose their sexuality or gender. In short, the people in the demonstration are great!

But from the organisation side? It's almost like the A doesn't exist! Stage discussions? Nope, at most they name asexual when they go through the list of labels. Info material? I saw one flyer about grey asexuality. Stickers? Yeah, okay, those exist in the mix, but mostly ace.

On the other hand you see lesbian and gay, trans and bi everywhere. I love penis/I love vagina, love is love, love who you want, etc. Great to see that political parties don't look past the LGBT. Nice that discussions include non-binary people as an afterthought.

When talking about love all the time, is it too much to ask to mention there are different kinds of love? That love doesn't have to be romantic to be valid? That it can be whatever you want it to be? Mention the split attraction model in info material? Have info material about aromanticism at all? Some parties actually have an aromantic sticker, but those are even rarer than ace ones.

This year there's a lot of talk about legally changing your gender, because they finally changed the law in Germany to make it a lot easier. The stage discussions are all about how it used to be and how much easier it is now. I'm not sure if I heard mention of non-binary and intersex people in this regard. If, then it wasn't much. Would've been nice to hear them mention that "diverse" is an option for your legal gender, or that you can have it removed all together. And why and for whom that is important. Especially since some federal states banned gender sensitive language from schools and government places, to "protect the German language". (They criticised that and it's a whole different rant.) Come on, gender isn't a binary, some people exist somewhere in the middle, or outside of it, or don't have a gender at all. That's not new information and queer organisations like Pride should be well aware of that and speak about it! But I guess that topic is too risky and too uncomfortable for a stage in a public place.

TL,DR Pride is great, but as an aroace agender person I often feel excluded and unseen at least to some extent.

All that said, I have to end on something positive: my favourite Pride so far - CSD Göttingen 2023.

Organised by the community, for the community. No political parties were present, because they were not invited and not welcome. Instead we had queer organisations talking on stage and manning booths. Including the local asexual and aromantic network.

There were banners along the demonstration route, saying love is love. They were put up by the city, independently, without asking the organisers if those banners were wanted. They were not. (The organisers said that.)

Out of 15 Prides I went to so far, this one was the one where I felt most at home. Unfortunately it's quite far from where I live and this year it shares a date with another Pride I want to attend, so I can't go there again. Hopefully next year. And hopefully they can keep going like this. Independent from politicians.

[theaceandaroadvocacyproject]

Hello everyone! We wanted to do a piece talking about the intersectionality of disabled and aspec identities and experiences - does this ring true to your experiences? What did we miss? Info on the images are written out below and included in alt text.

[Text reads: July is Disability Pride Month. Let's discuss Disability and Aspec Identity. While individuals may be both aspec and disabled, the two groups also have many similarities outside of people who exist in both. Ableism and aphobia, while both robust issues on their own, have intersecting pain points. Ace and aro people may be accused of being "sick" or "unnatural", and in need of a cure. Simple existence is conflated with suffering, and some people may be more invested in "fixing" aspec people rather than accepting them.

The idealized future - long life, independent living, marriage, children, etc - does not necessarily leave room for people in these groups. Disabled and aspec people can definitely have wonderful futures, without adhering to ableist and amatonormative notions of what a future should look like. Both groups are frequently treated as an afterthought in the realms of legislation/political advocacy and community care*. *A great time to remind y'all that we are still in a pandemic. Wear a mask.

People who are both disabled and aspec may deal with the added stress of stereotype threat*. Stereotype threat is the anxiety and stress that comes from possibly confirming a negative stereotype about the demographic one is apart of. Stereotype threat may arise due to the stereotype that disabled people are not suitable for romantic and/or sexual relationships, or due to the stereotype that asexuality and aromanticism are signs of illness or dysfunction. *Stereotype threat can occur to people of any minority demographic - age, race, gender, orientation, etc.]

[klavierpanda]

Bro...aroaces are literally the most represented everywhere. And you're still complaining. Go ask aroallos and aceallos about being recognised lol

The post wasn't even about representation, it's about the fact that even in aspec spaces there is a tendency to leave out the aro part of aroace and just viewing those people as asexual where being aro is an afterthought. Do you not see how that is also harmful for both aroallos and alloaces?

In the case of aroallos it's the fact that they're forgotten about because they aren't asexual and therefore their identity isn't even at the forefront of most people's minds when discussing aspec stuff. Their aroness is erased because it is not accompanied by asexuality.

In the case of alloaces there is the underlying assumption that romantic attraction isn't felt because there is still the assumption that aroace and asexual are the same thing. The fact they do feel romantic attraction is erased by the fact they're asexual.

The underlying issue here is that there isn't a great understanding of how different attractions interact with each other and the different labels we have to describe different experiences, even within the aspec community.

I made the post because an irl aspec group that I'm in were talking about the aroace character in the new series of Heartstopper and almost all of them referred to him as asexual. I have not watched Heartstopper (romance stuff doesn't interest me) but I was informed that there's actually a stronger focus on romantic attraction, i.e. the aro part in his aroace identity. As well as a consistent feeling that my aroness was erased when I identified as aroace and is ultimately one of the reasons I dropped the ace part of the label.

[uselessvaldemarsimp]

"less-cannon-accurate" annnnd there it is, thanks for letting us know that the author of that "route" treats Valdemar being aroace just as an inconvenient little detail to be discarded. what a shame

DISCLAIMER: i am not aroace! this is simply my opinion, take what i say with a grain of salt

here’s what i have to say:

is valdemar good aroace representation in the first place?

i dont think so! their orientation was announced in a, correct me if im wrong, comment section of an instagram post, and no where else! the fact that they and vulgora, villains, are the only nonbinary characters that use they/them exclusively, and the fact that valdemar, again, a villain, is the only aroace character in the entire game, is simply overall bad representation! a villain being aroace isn’t inherently bad representation, but all other things considered in this specific situation, the creators seem to view aroace people as inhumane freaks! yikes!

is this an excuse to erase said gender and sexuality?

not really, no!

is the valdemar dorian route by ronelle otieno good aroace representation despite this?

i think so! it’s done very well in my opinion, being an integral part of their character, not explicitly stated but shown through their actions and storytelling, it honestly makes valdemar seem a little more human, the way that their orientation is shown. i think ronelle otieno took something that was a poorly done afterthought and made it into good representation

can aroace people partake in sex and romance?

yes! this is a pretty obvious fact that most people are aware of by now

since that’s the case, is the inclusion of sex and/or romance when engaging with an aroace character an erasure of their sexuality?

not inherently! again, aroace people Can partake in these things, despite what some people may think!

HOWEVER, is deviating from canon with an aroace character who has been explicitly stated to not have an interest in sex and romance an erasure of their sexuality?

honestly, this is where things get tricky, but i think i have a way of thinking about it:

do actions = attraction?

i dont think so! i think people can kiss whoever they want, have sex with whoever they want, give flowers to whoever they want, without it being a direct show of their orientation. therefore, while it may be deviating from canon, it isn’t an inherent erasure of the characters sexuality. an erasure of aroace sexuality would be having that character specifically show or state that they are romantically and/or sexually attracted to someone. that’s where we begin having issues! if you have a problem with deviating from canon, that’s an entirely different thing, and i suggest you never interact with fandoms ever! for your own sanity.

people swap the sexualities of characters all the time, why is it such an issue when people do it with aroace characters, or queer characters in general?

lack of representation! if all these different flavors of queer were normalized, as they should be, people wouldn’t have so much of an issue with playing around with characters sexualities, but because representation is spare, people cling onto these aspects of these characters for dear life, even if the representation isn’t good representation

so what should people be fighting for?

more representation! instead of hanging onto characters who’s orientation is already a badly done, arguably acephobic afterthought, maybe the best course of action is to make an effort to create more aro and/or ace representation in general!

at the end of the day, is this all that big of a deal?

not really! you are the the captain of your own ship. you can choose to interact with things, or dont! wasting energy arguing over something that wont change is not worth your precious time. using that energy to create and promote Good representation is probably a better use of ones energy.

i highly encourage aroace people, especially those who have read the dorian route, to share their opinions. i dont intend to speak For or Over aroace people, im just a stranger on the internet who has thought a lot about things that dont really matter a whole lot in the grand scheme of things

[mightymelancholy]

Adding on to a previous post since I feel it's more appropriate to explain here. Warning it gets ranty

I feel a lot of people would miss these "this character is xyz" tweets and live streams. I mean Peridot having little to no sexual/romantic attraction didn't even cross my mind as a young kid or even when I got older. Her being aroace had to be pointed at to me by other YouTubers since I didn't have Twitter (not calling it "X") to see the tweet or the book alluding to her to be aroace. Also because her being aroace wouldn't automatically block off from fusion, since fusion represents varying relationships like toxic relationships, romantic, sexual, polyamorous, monogamous, platonic, and familial relationships. It seems weird to imply Peridot can't have strong platonic and familial fusions just because she's aroace. That's an unfortunate stereotype that the Crewniverse fell into.

Also I won't even get into how Alastor's asexual/aroace identity was vaguely referenced by a joke that was very easy to miss.

Go watch this good video by The Ace Couple

And Octavia hardly contributed to Helluva Boss due to her being overshadowed by her neglectful father that sexually coercived a person with a poor education and a daughter, employees, and himself to financially provide for. I'll keep bringing up how terrible of a character Stolas is any chance I get lol But again a character being ace and or aro is an afterthought even to queer creators, but characters like Angel Dust, Fizz, Blitzø, Ozzie, and Stolas can mention how gay they are. There's nothing inherently wrong with sexual humor it is just that the writers of Hazbin and Helluva think overusing it is funny.

Full Moon was so bad for this 😭 Like making fun of sex toys by having the Cherubs think there torture devices isn't that funny and since they're intentionally or not making fun of people who use them. Like making fun of sex toys and BDSM is hardly funny anymore and really wasn't before at least in the ways some people did it so childishly. The people that participate in those things already get stigmatized enough, why is the show using it as a punchline??

It's just weird and kinda fetishy that the writers depict the prominent gay male characters in the show as extremely sexual people, while asexuals and aromantics can't even mention their orientation. The show uses the word gay or other similar words a good amount of times but only says ace ONCE in Hazbin Hotel that could easily go over someone's head. If people have to go looking for evidence and confirmation outside the show proper then that's not what I'd call good representation. What if platforms get taken down or the posts get removed for whatever reason, then that PROOF of the characters sexuality is gone.

Point is add more characters that are explicitly or heavily implied to be ace and or aro. This shouldn't be hard to make diverse characters important that are also their own person while not ignoring their sexual and romantic orientation. If a character can say they're gay/lesbian/bisexual etc. and like sex with pride, then why can't an ace/aro character.

[aromacaque]

Something I don't think a lot of queer people understand because the aro/ace community is very online-oriented is how little people actually know about aromanticism.

I feel like if you're predominantly in queer spaces (especially online) then of course you have at least heard of aro/ace identities, but IRL I have only met like 2 other aro people. Ever. In my entire life. Most people I meet tend to only know a little bit about it, or more than likely know nothing at all. Most people I meet have never met an aro person ever in their life (that they know of), and it Really shows. Because I think generally speaking most people know of other sexualities and trans people to some degree (i.e. gay, bi, trans). If they don't they definitely know of them. But that's not the same for aromantic people. So whenever I talk about myself, unless I explicitly give the label out to them so they can have a word to associate with my "abnormalities" or the things they think are strange (or even wrong) about me, then they just stare at me like I'm an anomaly.

I have been stared at like an anomaly. I have had many moments with people where me just being vaguely honest about my love life (or lack thereof) has been met with confusion and discomfort from the people around me. Multiple times where I can tell people are uncomfortable and HAVE A PROBLEM with me for either offhandedly mentioning I've never had a crush or just not having much of anything to contribute to a conversation regarding that stuff.

I have also had people claim they could be the exception or that they could "fix me." From both straight and queer people by the way.

My entire existence challenges so much of these people's concept of how social conventions work and so they immediately pinpoint me as being different.

To add to this, that feeling of alienation is very present in queer spaces as well. Being the only aromantic person in the room of other queer people, who claim to be accepting, yet you're always the afterthought? If even thought of at all? That's.. not really acceptance, is it? I don't think so.

I could get into more detail with this but the gist is that I've always felt more comfortable in queer spaces as a trans person than I ever have been as aromantic.

I genuinely don't think other queer people actually grasp how alienating and oppressive socially the experience of being aromantic is. They just see us as "basically cishet" or "QPRs are basically just dating!" when that couldn't be farther from the truth. The way I experience attraction is fundamentally different to the majority of the population, cishet AND lgbt sexualities combined. And it's really annoying to be treated as if we don't ever experience prejudice due to it.

[laurenfoxmakesthings]

I've been holding this news to my chest for quite a while…I've been interviewed about my book and the spin-off series based on The Man From C.A.M.P. I've been developing, Agents of C.A.M.P.

The first book will have ace and aro non-binary protagonists!

I'll admit, not everything from the interview could make it in, and understandably so. The article goes into more of the history than I originally thought, it goes into the foundation and Maggie Weadick, which I always knew (at first just Maggie was going to be interviewed).

The Agents of C.A.M.P. series in this article was essentially a damn good third act and an announcement. There was no way all of my autistic-motivated info-dumping and gushing was going to fit, I knew that.

Like, the fact that it took years of re-reading some of the books on-and-off as a fan before it became a hyperfixation out of necessity for the spin-off. Or how all that research thanks to those libraries was to piece together the unofficial final out-of-print novel of the original series. Or how 'The Golden Doppelbangers' title is also inspired by the Dr Goldfoot films (for good reason *wink*)

However, here, and here only, I was add a few things that I'm eager to share now that this project is more public. Supplementary material. Extra goodies for the people interested, let's say.

Firstly, the other protagonist. I'm happy Quant is introduced to a lot of people in this article, especially considering how fulfilling it has been to write the flamboyant, confident asexual character I always wanted to see (I've noticed allos can't really imagine ace characters being anything except demure, reserved, and deadpanned, and I'm tired of that). But Quant is one protagonist out of two, and not even the novel's main POV protagonist.

The other protagonist is Sypretes Arsénios. An aromantic, genderfluid lesbian, archer, and art thief. Their whole deal is they've been on a years-long quest to recover queer art looted by Nazis. But now that quest is finished. They can't return to their old life and they can't bring themself to giving up their current one, at best now stealing queer art to make a statement. And that's where Quant comes in, recruiting Sypretes as their new partner in C.A.M.P.

They're your eyes, being introduced to C.A.M.P. in the modern day, and asking the questions that need to be asked.

The first thought I had about this novel was that the protagonists had to be an ace and an aro. As an ace myself, I know how tiresome it is to be the afterthought in the queer community. This will not be the case here, aces and aros are in the first book and more will come.

And I wanted ensure aroallos, queer folks we hardly ever see in stories, gets represented with Sypretes. Due to this amatonormative world seeing aroallos as cold 'at best' and predatory at worst, plenty of creators seem uncomfortable to even try to represent them. As though sex isn't 'exploitative' if there's a potential for romance. That rhetoric is much more conservative than people think, so I say screw that. In this novel, platonic relationships are worth more than gold, whether sex is involved or not.

I probably already hinted at this on tumblr, but this novel is about sexbots. One reason I did this is because aces and aros are often compared to robots, and I wanted to show how untrue that is. Especially with Sypretes and how much of a caring lover they are.

Secondly, I want to talk about C.A.M.P. itself. I definitely get why even other queer folks might give the side-eye to novels starring queer secret agents. The reason why a lot of us don't trust the series Q-Force (and I agree). A lot of us know real government agencies in charge of espionage have screwed over marginalised groups, including the LGBTIQA+ community. COINTELPRO. Operation Condor. The Lavender Scare. And many, many more atrocities. It doesn't make any of it better if the government agent is queer.

Here's the thing. I wouldn't have been interested in the original series at all if the series' protagonist Jackie Holmes was 'a CIA agent but gay'. C.A.M.P. isn't a government organisation. Since the original series in the 1960s, C.A.M.P. has been a secret underground independent organisation dedicated to advancing and protecting the LGBTIQA+ community, through many different branches.

Each branch focused on a different subject matter through a queer lens. One of which is the 'special services' branch, essentially the secret agents/detectives. I won't give everything they do away, but in short, when there's a hate group threatening the community, it's the agents' job to punch them and stop them.

Agents of C.A.M.P. will have more in common with Leverage than James Bond. Even the original Man From C.A.M.P. series was more inspired by James Bond's aesthetic than the franchise's authoritarian ethos.

Now, the original series wasn't perfect, for instance some of Jackie Holmes' missions/novels didn't involve the point of C.A.M.P. because of elements that haven't aged well. I've been intent on dealing with the original series' problems thanks to researching the lore (I know a lot of people hate that word now, but it's what I got). While also making sure both the series and the in-universe organisation are much more intersectional and much more focused on fighting fascists.

Thirdly, I'll admit, I'm a slow writer. It doesn't help that my book has ballooned bigger than I intended (as apparently any creative project I do does) and the plot is now too tight to break and cut. I'm nowhere near the end of the first draft yet, though I've been finding more ways to write more often as possible.

My point is if my novel's release date (there isn't one yet) gets delayed, maybe delayed more than once: please don't blame the Victor J Banis Family Foundation or speculate the worst case scenario. It would be me being slow and too thorough for my own good.

I don't want to end on that note though. Now that this project is way more public, I would be more than happy to answer any questions about Agents of C.A.M.P., my novel 'The Golden Doppelgangers', maybe even the original Man From C.A.M.P. series, or anything else relevant.

[inevitably-ineffable-husbands]

A Thought on AziraCrow from an A-Spec Perspective

On the Eve of Good Omens S2, I just wanted to put my two cents in about AziraCrow, before we see the outcome of S2, because it’s pretty clear from trailers and promotions that their relationship is a plot point in the season.

I started writing a ridiculously long post a week ago spurned on from this screenshot from Pride Magazine, and my being upset by the current discourse on Twitter about AziraCrow “being canon or not”, but decided to shorten it to just this little thought, because I feel like me writing a meta-style commentary (which I do have saved if you want a more long-form thought about it after the series airs) isn’t necessary right now.

And this is all despite Gaiman AND the cast AND crew basically confirming that it is in multiple interviews, discourse from people in the community that are supposed to understand the queer experience, completely disavowing its legitimacy unless “X” happens (where “x” usually is explicit confirmation of sex happening)��so therefore it’s not valid (which is really bizarre).

But I digress.

This is just a bit of a thought that I think allos are COMPLETELY skimming over:

Crowley’s and Aziraphale’s relationship, as it currently stands now prior to S2, is representative of the beginnings of a (currently) queerplatonic asexual relationship, and as an ace who so desperately just wants to see a relationship that I can see myself in on screen, and lo and behold came Good Omens. I’m part of a demographic which I and a few of my real-life friends fall into and were so happy to see on-screen when we saw GO. A demographic that is ridiculously under-represented in media that it often is mistaken as “bromance” or “just besties”.

As it stands now, in act 1, it is the part before the romantic gestures and before the “I love you”’s, and the part before the moving in and committing your life to someone else. Very gentle and romantic, slow burn kind of stuff that I, as an ace, relate to so much.  

This relationship looks like what my best friends went through for YEARS before finally tying the knot in their queerplatonic relationship because they couldn’t imagine their lives without each other anyway and they loved each other fiercely. This relationship looks like the kind of relationship that doesn’t turn me off as an asexual: to share the ridiculous amounts of love I have, and be loved in return, despite my complete disinterest in having sex. The “you go to fast for me Crowley” was SO FELT in my soul as someone who needs a lot of time to feel comfortable in any relationship I’m in (like, Aziraphale is SO me, it’s ridiculous really), and me trying to explain to people that I need a lot of time to feel comfortable in a relationship and that sex may never happen, and me knowing that I’ll probably be turned down because of it. Me not wanting to hurt someone in a world where sex is an expected endgame, so I just... tend to keep to myself. I’m just as happy with my books and my video games and doing things on my own, but I long for a life partner to love and to experience my life with. And while can’t speak for what other aces and aros may relate to about the relationship, I like to hope that they can also see themselves in AziraCrow as well. 

And please don’t get me wrong: I WANT them together-together, in any or all ways that it means: committing to each other 100%, love confessions, declarations of forever, marriage, a cottage in Sussex, and yes, even sex if that’s who they are canonically... I do want that, because I want it for myself. I want to see a relationship blossom where sex isn’t the primary outcome of it, but more of an afterthought as a way to consummate their love and to FEEL loved by each other.

I think the beauty of Crowley and Aziraphale’s relationship is that because they are essentially supernatural beings, we as people can put ourselves in their places, and use them as placeholders for us to project our relationships and experiences onto them and in turn feel seen. 

AziraCrow gives me hope that I will find my Other Person someday, because there is unconditional love in the world for people like me, especially as I get older and more set in my ways. I only hope I find my own Crowley to make me feel loved.

I know my opinion isn’t popular about AziraCrow, but honestly, their relationship, and the way it’s progressing means SO much to me, as an asexual, anyway. I hope it’s important to others too. <3