Robyn Ochs
Speaker • Teacher • Writer • Activist
Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week
It’s Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week!
What is ‘Aromantic’ (Aro)?
- Aromantic describes people who experience little to no romantic attraction, or whose experience of romance is disconnected from normative societal expectations, due to feeling repulsed by romance, or being uninterested in romantic relationships.
- They may or may no experience other types of attraction and many have any sexual orientation
- Aro is a shorthand for aromantic that is also commonly used as an umbrella term for people on the aromantic spectrum
- Aroace refers to someone who is on both the aromantic spectrum and the asexual spectrum
The Aromantic Spectrum
- While some aromantic people feel no romantic attraction at all, some people feel it rarely, experience it only under certain conditions, have trouble distinguishing between romantic and other types of attraction, or have some other pattern of attraction that doesn’t fit the norm.
- There are many different terms for these different patterns of attraction, but all fit under the broader term aromantic spectrum.
Other Important Terms
- Demiromantic – describes a person who only experiences romantic attraction after developing an emotional connection beforehand.
- Greyromantic (grey aromantic) – describes a person who feels romantic attraction very rarely, weakly, unreliably or gains/loses attraction in unusual or unknown circumstances.
- Queerplantonic Relationship (QPR) – relationships that don’t fit into the categories of what is traditionally considered to be a friendship or a romantic relationship. They many or many not be sexual, involve living together, raising children, shared finances & life decisions, etc
About ASAW
- Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week (ASAW) is a week meant to spread awareness and acceptance of aromantic spectrum identities and the issues they face, as well as a chance for the community to celebrate its own experiences and existence.
- ASAW generally occurs the first full week following Valentine’s Day; it began in large part as a way for those in the aromantic community who had difficulty finding space for their experiences in such a universally romanticized event to come together and celebrate their own unique experiences.
More Info & Resources
- http://www.arospecweek.org
- http://www.aromanticism.org
- http://www.taaap.org/
- http://www.aromanticguide.com/
- http://www.reddit.com/r/aromantic/
- http://www.facebook.com/groups/aromantictalk
- http://www.acesandaros.org/
Robyn Ochs 