#asaw 2022

[the-agent-of-blight]

Aromanticism in Academic Papers (day 5)

Today is day 5 of my project to summarize a new academic paper that discusses aromanticism for ASAW 2024!

Today's Paper is: Sexuality, Sexual Behavior, and Relationships of Asexual Individuals: Differences Between Aromantic and Romantic Orientation by Ana Catarina Carvalho and David L. Rodrigues. (2022) [stable link]

This paper's primary goal is to observe differences between aro and allo aces on a series of metrics, focusing on perceptions around sexuality, sexual behavior, and romantic relationships.

To measure these aspects, the authors used several different measures. These included the Asexuality Identification Scale developed by Yule et al. (2015), Feelings of attraction (asking do you feel romantic or sexual attraction), Orientation, Past sexual experiences, past romantic experiences, Desire to have romantic relationships (and whether or not they wanted sex or not), Relationship concerns (subscale of the Commitment and Sexual Performance of the Attidues Related to Sexual Concerns Scale (Koch & Cowden, 2011)), and attachment style (assessed using the Adult attachment questionnaire).

Interesting results came from this analysis. They found that aroaces scored higher on the Asexuality Identification Scale than alloaces, that alloaces experience more romantic and sexual attraction than aroaces, that allo romantic individuals indicate less aversion to sex, have had more sexual partners, and are more sexually active currently. Unsurprisingly, alloaces are more likely to engage in romantic activities and have stronger desires for relationships with or without sexual intimacy, they were also found to be more concerned with sexual performance. Interestingly, aroaces were found to be more concerned about commitment. This was theorized to go against the hypothesis the authors had because of the low visibility of non-romantic partnerships making finding a relationship in the way they want to be tricky. For the measure of attachment style, it was found that aromantic asexuals had more avoidant attachment styles compared to alloromantic aces.

It's frustrating that, across the course of this project, it has been hard to find papers about aromantics that are not actually about asexuality. As i've mentioned before in this series, research into aromantics is extremely limited, and has primarily sprung out of asexuality research. For academia, unfortunately, aromantic people are still mostly a subset of the asexual population. But our options for representation in papers is similarly limited in the way representation for media is. When we are present, its usually alongside asexuality. Many of the interpretations of the data presented by this paper can be easily read as invalidating people by saying that they are "less asexual" than others. Some of this data may have come from the limitations of the questionnaires they used, as well as interpreting data in the way that these researchers did. Ultimately, still a good starting point for future aromantic studies to base some starting assumptions off of.

[link to day 6]

[jen-derless]

And my fourth Aromantic Headcanon Fanfic from AO3, this about Wednesday Addams was written recently for this year's ASAW.

[godteri-takk]

Wait.... Riverdale is a comic with LGBTQ+ characters and not just a shitty show that an abusive "friend" forced me to watch 4 episodes of when i was 12??? Jughead seems so cute and goofy!

Aro-Spec Awareness Week 2022

Canon Aro of the Day

Jughead Jones from Jughead comics (2015 specifically but he’s always been aro) is Aromantic Asexual

[arowitharrows]

Happy ace week! Remember that you do not have to conform to anyone's expectations of what it means to be on the asexual spectrum. There is no norm you have to fit in to, you don't need to experience things the same way as others and the community is made better through diversity!

[thomaslightwood]

Some friendly reminders for the Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week (& beyond)

- Aromanticism is not part of the asexuality spectrum.

- Aromanticism and asexuality are two different identities.

- The "A" in LGBTQIA+ stands for aromantic as well.

- Some aros feel romantic love. Some even fall in love. Some feel only platonic love. And some aros don't feel love at all. And that's okay.

- Ace is not interchangeable for aro.

- Being aro isn't "sad".

- Loveless aros exist and should be appreciated and cherished.

- "Aros still experience other types of love!" or "Love is love!" are exclusive and we should stop using them for the whole aro community. Even if you're aro - stop using them on the behalf of all aros. This is harmful.

- Some aros are straight.

- Some aros are gay.

- Some aros are bi or pan.

- If you think it's wrong for a gay/lesbian character to be shipped with the opposite gender, than you should think the same about aro/ace characters, who canonically don't want/aren't in relationship to be shipped with other characters.

- Some aros are also ace.

- Some aros are also allo.

- Some aros are non-SAM.

- Some aros have casual sex and they shouldn't be demonized for it.

- Don't call it "aromantic awareness week". It's Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week for a reason.

- All aros deserve aro rep.

- All aros are queer.

- All aros are human.

- This post isn't all there is for aros. Do your own research as well.

[casuallykeivan]

[genderqueerpositivity]

(Image description: a square with five vertical stripes in the colors of the aromantic pride flag along the left side of the image, on the right side of the image the background is white with the words "Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week" in large green font and "February 20th - 26th, 2022" below in smaller black font.)

Happy Aro Week!

[aggressivelyarospec]

💚🤍🖤💚🤍🖤💚🤍🖤

Happy Aromantic

Spectrum Awareness

Week 2022!

💚🤍🖤💚🤍🖤💚🤍🖤

[theaceandaroadvocacyproject]

For Black History Month here in the US, we wanted to touch on a few ways that African American and aspec identity can intersect. Today, as a kick-off to Aro-Spec Awareness Week, we focused on aromanticism - stay tuned for infographics about asexuality! Description below.

[ID: Two images with the heading “Blackness and Aromanticism.” The first one has a muted red background and graphics of two dark skinned people with longer hair, one holding a grayromantic flag and the other holding an aroallo flag. This image reads “ African bodies are often hypersexualized, in that they are seen as deviantly and dangerously sexual and threatening to societal standards around family and sexuality. Aromanticism often gets judged as emotional coldness or sexual manipulation, so black aros may feel a double jeopardy around how they interact with sexuality.”

The second image has a gold background, and a graphic of a dark skinned person holding an aromantic flag. This image reads “African Americans are often stigmatized as unable to form healthy families. This stereotype is bound up in a history of African family dynamics being different from the Western nuclear family, and African American families often being separated due to slavery, incarceration, and/or other colonial factors. Being aromantic may mean wanting a family or relationship that is non-normative. For black aros, there may be shame and isolation around wanting something that supposedly reflects badly on African American heritage.” End ID.]

[disasterdemi]

I'm waiting in line, blending in with the rest of the people pretending to check their phones. There's something different about this week, but they probably don't know. There's something different about me, but they probably won't notice.

I look up when I feel you standing beside me. You catch my gaze and hold it with hopeful intent.

‘Sorry,’ you say. ‘But is that a demiromantic flag?’

I look down at my pin, as if I need to check. As if its presence hasn't been a source of palpable warmth all week. It's a compass on my collar, pointing to the part of me I'm too proud to hide but too shy to shout about.

I nod and you smile at me, just as shy, just as proud.

‘I'm aromantic too,’ you say.

I smile back.

It's a compass pointing to you.

[the-rose-owl]

Happy ASAW! Reject amatonormativity, take root in your own meaning!

Art blog: @rosey-arts

[emmysealart]

happy aro week to meee!!!!!!!

[a-romantic--aromantic]

[ID: yellowed text over a dark olive green background that reads “You are aro enough” /End ID.]

[the-desi-aro-ace]

"If aros are really valid, why do they need constant reminders?"

This was said to me by a person in the comment section when i said that aromantic people are valid. on first glance, at least to me, it seemed like a compelling argument. because if people were really valid, they wouldn't need constant reminders would they??

but i thought about this and now i know that this was actually a pretty stupid thing to say. so im breaking down this argument for people like me who thought this statement was true but did not actually ponder on it (excuse my messy thoughts and this is gonna be a long post so bear with me a bit <3)

for doing this, im gonna take my own example. im dark skinned, and in india, being dark-skinned=being ugly. people may say that "oh we dont feel that way, you're just as pretty as fair skinned people" but it doesnt make it easier to believe because the proof that they're lying is right there- the media, with the dark-skinned people being called ugly and no dark-skinned people being portrayed as "pretty". as much as i hate it, i'll have to admit that my skin colour does not make me feel pretty. at all. the fact that i've literally never seen a person with dark skin on screen in lead roles for women who're supposed to be desirable or beautiful doesnt help lmaooo

so seeing people on the internet with their skin colour like me call themselves pretty, seeing people call dark skinned people pretty, this all makes me happy. the reminders that dark skin isnt ugly, are needed. because without them i'd probably still think im ugly or something.

now, according to the commenter's logic, the reminders that dark is pretty too shouldn't be needed if dark actually was pretty. but that's not the case. dark is pretty. i need that reminder. both these sentiments and facts can and will coexist, purely due to the fact that feeding a specific information to someone for a long time will make them believe that, to a certain extent, no matter how false the information.

similarly, people are being constantly told by society, directly or indirectly, that love is the ultimate form of human relationships and that if you dont find love (every kind, but mostly the romantic kind) you're lonely, miserable and your life isnt fulfilling because love automatically makes life worth living. while it hurts alloromantic people too, it hurts aromantic people a lot more, because society is essentially telling us that if we dont love, we're not human and that our existence is not exactly valid. because we're automatically unfeeling machines if we cant love.

now, by feeding this to us since we were kids, its ingrained in us that love is unsurpassed than every other thing you could think of, which results in a lot of self-hate along with the freedom. because if we'll never love we'll never be human right?

that's why the reminders are needed. precisely to remind us that the information we've been fed by the society is not reliable and not true. they're reminding us that being aromantic is okay, just like being dark-skinned is okay.

also, maybe someone you know doesnt need these reminders, but you should remember that just because a particular person doesnt need the reminder doesnt mean everyone else doesnt. so yes, the reminders are very much needed <3

[trivoid-r]

happy aro week everyone! we are allowed to do whatever we want actually. commit suspicious activities. hold knives. safely enjoy fire. do archery. and anarchy

I don't have anything funny to say just hope all fellow arospecs are doing well. gently handing you a +5 to physical and mental health because we all need it

[casuallykeivan]

From one aroallo to another,

you are enough.