Hi Loves,
this is Lovely,
herself,
and today I would like to talk about a spectrum within our LGBT community that is not yet fully understood and is a little bit underrated still but I do have a friend who falls into that spectrum which being aromantic and asexual.
AROMANTIC SPECTRUM AWARENESS WEEK
A Celebration of Aromantic Spectrum Experiences and Identities | February 21st – 27th, 2021
“Following such a romantic holiday as Valentine’s Day, Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week promotes awareness and celebration of people who experience little to no romantic attraction.
What is aromanticism and how does it work?
In simple terms, the attraction has to do with how much you like or are interested in someone or something.
Aromanticism is a romantic orientation, which describes people whose experience of romance is disconnected from normative societal expectations, often due to experiencing little to no romantic attraction, or sometimes feeling repulsed by romance or being uninterested in romantic relationships.
When most people hear the term ‘attraction’ they tend to think of sexual attraction. Whether you are interested in or like having sex with men, women, and/or non-binary people is often our first way of understanding our own attractions. The sexual attraction is a fluid and physical response to particular people and things and can range from being very intense to completely absent. But this is only one of many forms of attraction!
The sensual attraction for example is very close to sexual attraction but with a significant difference. While sexual attraction is about the desire to have sex with someone, the sensual attraction is the desire to have physical contact with someone except for sex. Wanting to hug, cuddle, hold, or just be close to someone does not necessarily mean you also want to have sex with them. If you feel drawn to touch someone but not have sex with them then you may be experiencing the sensual attraction. Just remember: all forms of touching, sexual or not, require consent first.
Aesthetic attraction is all about finding someone or something pretty, but not necessarily sexy. Like a work of art. You can think ‘wow, that person is gorgeous’ but not want to date up with them. When a straight guy says ‘that dude is objectively handsome,’ he is demonstrating aesthetic attraction. He is recognizing that the other man is good-looking, without actually wanting to be more intimate with him.
The platonic attraction is about the kinds of people you want to surround yourself with as friends. So if someone is ‘homosocial’ it means they only tend to make friends with people of the same gender.
The romantic attraction has to do with who or what you fall in love with. This is often conflated with sexual attraction but is actually a separate thing. This is what the Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week is about.
Levels of romantic attraction can seriously vary. Some people are very romantically-inclined and love things like emotional intimacy, while other people feel little to no romantic attraction at all. Aromantic people’s experiences of romance (or the lack thereof) are often disconnected from normative societal expectations in some way. This can be due to experiencing little to no romantic attraction, feeling repulsed by romance, or being uninterested in romantic relationships.
Many aromantic people mention having trouble relating to the experience of “falling in love”, or of having romantic “crushes”. Many may pursue non-traditional forms of intimate relationships, or choose not to have formal “relationships” at all.
There is significant diversity in whether aromantic may or may not enjoy specific activities that are often coded as romantic (such as kissing), be uncomfortable with romance, be single or have a partner or be married – those are individual characteristics that vary widely from one aromantic person to another. The aromantic spectrum includes people who may not identify as strictly aromantic, but who find that the label is still a close fit and that they have a lot in common with the community. Some groups within the aromantic spectrum may also adopt new terms like gray romantic, demiromantic, lithromantic, quoiromantic, etc.
Let’s take some time to recognize, spread awareness about and celebrate those who are aromantic!”
Lovely, and do not forget to follow me Instagram and Twitter and also check my latest LGBT history month post.
