#aspec diaries

[clowningaroundmars]

me at age 24: am i... asexual? naahhhh.. well. idk LOL

also me shortly afterwards: goes to a girl's house at night to watch cartoons on her laptop in her bed where her vibrator was fully out and in plain view. i pushed it aside to sit down and type "courage the cowardly dog" into the fmovies search bar. we did not have sex at all that night

[clowningaroundmars]

Here I am sliding in my playlist for all those aros out there who are tired of being sad about being aro and wanna PARTY INSTEAD 🎉

why is every aro playlist on spotify like “being aro sucks :/” or “pov: ur sad bc ur aro” wtf . where is my aro positivity . i did not come here for this energy 🙄

[aroaessidhe]

aro & ace books: nonbinary YA/MG

MCs:

The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester - acespec MC

Asking For A Friend - ace MC

Godly Heathens - demiromantic MC

Dear Wendy - 1/2 aroace MCs

side characters/love interests

Tell Me How It Ends - arospec ace major character, he/they

Heartbreak Bakery - demi love interest

The Lost Coast - greyace major character

Meet Cute Diary - ace love interest

Aces Wild - ace love interest

The Mariah Mission - ace love interest

In The Ravenous Dark - ace major character

Fire Becomes Her - ace QPR-LI

#aspec books / aspec database / tumblr masterpost

[make-space-for-as]

My First Experience with Major Aphobia

I've lived a pretty happy aroace life. With an exception or two, nearly everyone I've come out to has been kind and curious. I knew aphobia was a thing, of course, but I didn't know it personally.

Until two weeks ago.

I'm a fantasy author with two published books featuring aromantic and asexual teenage protagonists. I am so proud of my babies. They are everything my little aroace heart needed as a teenager.

I have an amazing publisher who is supportive of my characters' orientations. But we had an opportunity to team up with another publisher to create curriculum courses based on my first book, Legend of the Storm Sneezer, for schools. Everything was going swimmingly until I made a Pride post where I mentioned, as I had countless times before, that my main characters are aroace.

And this publisher dropped me like a hot potato.

I received an email terminating our contract. Their reason? Because my characters are aromantic and asexual. It was like a slap to the face. I couldn't believe it. I was heartbroken and angry and hurt. And it didn't end there. The publisher went on to make videos and interviews with conservative social media influencers to make fun of my queer identity and style, and even partook in a smear campaign where they stole my pictures and intellectual property and slandered me thoroughly in an article. It's honestly the worst thing that's happened to me in my career.

But guys, the backlash. The outpour of support for aroace folks. The people who took up arms and fought against aphobia, supporting me, my books, and our community's identities. It was so beautiful my group of aroace writer friends called it "Chickengate" -- the day we stood up to aphobia (the publisher's name has to do with chickens, FYI).

It was a hard blow, but I've come through this so much stronger. My community is stronger. My identity is stronger. My faith is stronger. So, when you face aphobia, remember Chickengate and be strong!

Also, if you want to REALLY stick it to the aphobes, you can check out my fantasy series The Stormwatch Diaries for SO MUCH aromantic and asexual rep. It's perfect for fans of Doctor Who and The Owl House.

[justagaymoth]

Aromantic Allosexuals for the win my post about being aromantic but not asexual are getting reblogs yip yip yippe

[mybrainsrottingwithmcd]

Since theres been a concerning amount of acephobia and arophobia on tumblr I’ve drawn my fave aroace hc Aphmau holding a few of the many many aspec pride flags :)

All aspec people are just as queer and as valid as anyone else in this community and hold an important place.

Get over it :)

(i made some of the flags a lil lighter cuz the colours were making my eyes hurt)

[captain-ozone]

the only bot welcome in the asexual tag is Murderbot

[greenteaandtattoos]

maomao is so aroace-coded fr

[exilley]

it would rule if we treated types of attractions and relationships like we treat gender identity i.e. as a multifaceted spectrum that is inherently undefinable an account of its diversity and the fact that multiple people might experience a category of identity differently from each other. like just start calling people my girlfriend wife or my boyfriend in law.

[moss-green1234]

Murderbot aromantic flag 🚀

[canonaspecswag]

Canon Aspec Swag Showdown: Data Soong vs Murderbot

Data Soong from Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987). Data is an android and has no sexual attraction or desire. You can read about him as ace representation here and here

vs

Murderbot from The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. Murderbot is a bot-human construct, made from cloned human genetic material and robotic parts. It has human emotions but is sex and romance repulsed.

"Martha Wells: When I was working on the first novella, it didn't seem logical that a SecUnit would be given any kind of reproductive system or any human parts that weren't directly useful for its security function. And the way Murderbot feels about humans, it didn't seem logical for its personality that it would identify with any one gender, or be interested in choosing a human gender for itself, and it sure wouldn't be interested in human sexual relations. So in a way I guess it was a coincidence, since I didn't plan it from the start, it was just part of the process of developing the character as I was writing. And thank you!"

[clowningaroundmars]

it is aromantic awareness week my dudes 😎 💚🤍🩶🖤

[alex-van-gore]

For @aspec-tmbd - Murderbot sporting some pride coloured clothes :3c I think socks are neat

[ID: a digital drawing of Murderbot sitting sideways on a couch. The overall drawing is in grey shades, but a golden light shines through the window and Murderbot’s socks are in the asexual and aromantic pride colours each. Murderbot wears a cropped sweater with the sleeves rolled up so that the gunports are showing, and tight simple pants with the socks pulled up to the knees. It leans on the back of the couch, and the picture cuts off so that its face isn’t fully visible. Two little drones watch the viewer. /end ID]

[aroaessidhe]

Aro & Ace books: M/nonbinary ships

Aces Wild - ace MC, ace nonbinary love interest

Meet Cute Diary - ace nonbinary love interest

Tears In The Water - acespec gender questioning MC, demi love interest

Help Wanted - ace nonbinary MC

Blasted Research - ace nonbinary MC

The Story of the Hundred Promises - arospec MC, other aro characters & themes

The Wolf Among The Wild Hunt - aroace MC (QPR)

Our Bloody Pearl - ace man / aroacespec agender MCs

Assassins: Nemesis - grey-ace nonbinary MC

#aspec books / aspec database / tumblr masterpost

[catdemontraphouse]

Yup

[ilovedthestars]

Made some art for a prompt in the @aspec-tmbd event about taking traditional soulmate AUs but making them platonic, inspired by this amazing artwork depicting different colored strings of fate besides red. There's something so emotional about imagining that Murderbot was meant to meet so many people who care about it...and realizing that most of the SecUnits it served alongside would never have had that chance 😭

(if you're perceptive you may have noticed that yes, this is the exact same SecUnit lineart as that other art I posted the other day--I've reused it for multiple drawings now and likely will again. recoloring the same lineart multiple ways is fun!)