#unit aspec

[givemecoins]

Unit AplAro

[pt: Unit AplAro/end pt]

Unit AplAro (Aplatonic Aromantic): Someone who views their aplatonicism and their aromanticism as a single unit.

I was thinking about unit aroace and thinking about my own experience (as an aplaro), so I decided it would be cool to coin a term for aplaros who does not see their aplatonic and aromantic identities as being split. The color of the first stripe was taken from the aromantic flag and the color of the last stripe was taken from the aplatonic flag. The lighter shades of green and blue were chosen to offer a good contrast, and the middle stripe is an intermediate color between the darker green and the darker blue, chosen to represent a blend between aromantic and aplatonic identities. The arrowed apple symbol was chosen because the arrow is one of the aro symbols and because the apple is one of the aplatonic symbols.

(Note: this term totally includes mesi aplaros)

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T: @radiomogai

[isobug]

Unit Aro and Unit Ace flags

Unit Aro : Umbrella term for an Aro identity experienced as a single unit

Unit Ace : Umbrella term for an Ace identity experienced as a single unit

Some examples are one who identifies as Aro / Ace and they do not identify with any other orientation type, identifies as Aro / Ace most, and so "Aro" / "Ace" stands for their experiences best, or they prefer "Aro" / "Ace" over other parts of their identity.

The flag colors are inspired by the original Aro and Ace flags, as well as the Aroace flag by aroaesflags. The gradient of the Green / Purple represents the entire Aromantic / Asexual Spectrum. The Aro Arrow and Ace Spade are optional but are there for those who enjoy the symbols.

The dark blue is inspired from the Aroace flag because it was designed with those Aroaces who do not split their attractions / identities in mind ( which lines up well with Unit Aroace ). Blue also shows up in many other Aspec flags ( ex. Fray, Quoi, Aymid ). It represents one's Aro / Ace identity as a " Unit ", whole as it is and unable to be split or separated.

( I cannot find the coiner of " Unit Ace " as it's wiki page seems to be gone / down / deleted? I believe it was coined by a FANDOM or Miraheze user but if anyone has a name I can credit please drop it in my inbox! )

Taglist - @revenant-coining, @radiomogai, @contracorvid

[g1ngerbeer]

utopia

[breaking-news-the-aroace-has]

[critture]

my aroness and aceness cannot be separated, i consider them the same thing. for me, the experiences greatly overlap and one cannot be talked about or experienced without the other

[chaotic-carnifex]

Feel free to elaborate on the other options too, obviously

And happy pride month!

[raayllum]

i'm literally sitting here trying to figure out what EVEN i can SAY about aspec rayllum here? i think about them and i want to combust into heart emojis. i watched the first season when it first came out and then only happened to catch up last year with my qpp, and in between i was like. so infuriated when i found out they'd made rayla and callum a thing bc i - naturally - latched onto the green and purple character as an aroace icon at 18 years old, and my partner was like "no no no no TRUST me you've got to watch it, you'll love it"

they weren't wrong and after bingeing the whole show i'm stuck thinking about rayllum a LOT. they're written so much like my own ideal relationship that i kind of want to explode from it sometimes. anyway, my absolute favorite thing about them is how much emphasis there is about their friendship - to the point that when i watched season four, I can't remember which episode specifically it was number wise but when rayla suggested splitting up and offered to go with callum and he turns her down, my first immediate heartbroken thought was "she misses her best friend..." i just love how they're in love but they're in love cos they're best friends....11/10 no notes i need more relationships like that in media

ANYWAY long rambley ask about my loves aside, my question is what are some of your favorite moments where rayllum are so clearly best friends/goofballs in love?

No like honest to god though — me and the Rayla to my Callum are also in a QPR + dash of romance relationship and like... arc 1 and arc 2 Rayllum are just so goddamn sweet??

I don't agree generally that arc 2 Rayllum is more Mature™ than arc 1 rayllum — Callum is more patient and Rayla is more open, so they've matured as individuals — but merely just that they're different flavours of aspec-ness. Like arc 1 is the craziness and rollercoaster of meeting a stranger and realizing they're Your Person, and arc 2 is the deepness after the fact of "I know you, and I know that we can get through everyone so long as we have each other" mostly cause I think the main reason people label arc 1 Rayllum as more immature is because s3 Rayllum gushes over each other, but that's bc people have a hard time conceptualizing having deep admiration for your partner(s) that isn't infatuation... even though like? It's totally normal and welcome, like any long term relationship is "my partner is the most amazing person ever and i'm also very aware of all their flaws simultaneously" and like, arc 1 Rayllum hits that balance perfectly imo

I just love all of their stages and sides to them so so much

But yeah! Some of my fave moments Rayllum wise for the Best Friends quality has to be when they help each other up in 3x05 (Callum after the soulfang chase and Rayla on the ambler) because things are Weird but they're still always going to help each other? The "I missed my best friend" quality in s4 with no one laughing at Callum's jokes / talking about magic with him (vs their first scene in 5x01 being him telling her all about the magic stuff he's reading) and Rayla keeping her disappointment at bay always hits hard and I loove 4x06 when she's beating herself up and he takes care of her because a Good Relationship isn't about how you treat each other when everything's fine, it's 100% about how treat each other when life is hard/stressful and/or you're upset with each other

But I love all the gentle teasing in early S5 and the fist bump lives in my head eternally rent free. The 2x03 hug also means a lot to me cause that was the turning point she went from being a friend to being family and I think in a lot of ways, that's their relationship's most important turning point alongside maybe 1x06 (trusting her anyway!) 4x09 (forgiveness) and 5x04 (her opening up).

5x02 post-inn and stargazing scene are also faves just because of how happy they are talking about Nothing and everything, and like — that's just so fucking real, y'know? When someone makes everything automatically better just by being there

As Callum says, "We've been through a lot, and a lot has changed. Well, some things have changed, but not everything," and this never will

[anistarrose]

drawing characters with the combined "sunset" aroace flag is always a vital public service, and more people should do it, not less. it's a good flag! but, just as an observation... I feel like at some point, "aroace headcanon enthusiast culture" shifted away from drawing aroace characters with the separate asexual and aromantic flags, and towards drawing them the combined aroace flag, almost exclusively.

I think about this because some aroaces, including myself, either identify with the sunset aroace flag less than the individual flags, or don't identify with the combined flag at all, because we see our asexuality and aromanticism as either mostly or entirely separate. and that separation is actually reflected in a lot of my aroace headcanons! some of the aroace headcanons I think and post about the most are about characters being disconnected with both sex and romance, but in incredibly divergent ways! or they're about characters prioritizing one over the other in their self-identification, and in their personal meaning-making! to me, it is both projection and good fuel for character study!

and in fact, separate or combined aroace identity are both super nuanced, and worthwhile to explore! but when we treat one as the default, I feel like we gloss over the nuances of both. and let me be clear: no one has to write an essay about the nuances of a character's aroace identification and experiences in order to draw them with any combination of flags. it can truly just be vibes. you can even just like the colors! but I feel like some people might not know that the sunset aroace flag is just one option — and again, I think this does a disservice to both separate flag users and combined flag users who like to see their experiences reflected in fanworks. there's so many beautiful ways to be aroace! and also... honestly... sometimes I have aroace headcanons for goths and/or mad scientists. sometimes I just like the purple and green colors.

[anxietyfrappuccino]

thinking about all the sexual valentine's day art i've involuntarily seen this week. yeah, there's a reason asexual usually trends after aromantic on valentine's day

[pokemonprideflags]

the aroflux flag color picked from holiday style goodra (Pokémon Unite)

[diospirando]

So I installed the ACEapp in hopes of meeting other aspecs in my country and there's only like 20 of us there but at least I got to read one bio that says they never felt fiscal attraction

[givemecoins]

Unit Aplaroace

(pt: Unit Aplaroace/end pt)

Unit Aplaroace: Someone who views their aplaroace identity as a single unit.

The blue was taken from the aplatonic flag, the green from the aromantic flag and the purple from the asexual flag. The colors between these three colors were chosen to represent a blend between the identities. I decided to put an apple symbol because it is one of the aplatonic symbols and the ace of spades because it is an aroace symbol.

(Note: this term totally includes mesi aplaroaces)

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T: @radiomogai

[isobug]

Unit Aspec

( IDs: 2 rectangular flags with 5 equally-sized horizontal lines. colors in this order from top to bottom: black, dark grey, grey, white, darkish blue. in the center of the first flag is a black symbol of a 4-pointed star, taller than it is wide, with a blue outline. End ID )

Unit Aspec : Umbrella term for an Aspec identity experienced as a single unit

Some examples of this could be : An individual with an Aspec experience that is very blurry and impossible to tease apart. One who has "Aspec" as the only relevant "Unit", they do not want others to assume beyond it or expect further disclosure. One who is unsure if they are "Unit Aro" or "Unit Ace" ( or any other "Unit" ) and cannot distinguish between ( or be certain they experience ) attractions.

The gradient of the Black / Grey / White represents the entire Anattractional / A-Spectrum. The dark blue is inspired from the Aroace flag, blue also shows up in many other Aspec flags ( ex. Fray, Quoi, Aymid ). It represents one’s Aspec identity as a “ Unit ”, whole as it is and unable to be split or separated.

The compass rose is optional but is there for those who enjoy it, taken from this inclusive Aspec flag. The format follows the Unit Aro and Unit Ace flags as well as the Unit Aroace flag.

Taglist - @revenant-coining, @radiomogai, @contracorvid

[biggestqiblifan]

@moonelight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

epic aro sculpture i did for class

the heart is made out of plastic bags wrapped with tape, so it's squishy ^_^ and the knife is qtips hot glued together. the knife is also removable!

[critture]

i've been thinking a lot lately and i love the term ay (click link for info if you're unfamiliar with it) bc i see my aroness and aceness as intertwined/unseparable/the same thing. i think ay might be my new "main" label in that regard. but also i'm still using aroace as a "main" label as well since ay isn't very well known, sadly; i also like the terms unit aroace and non-sam aroace. but yeah, i'm ay!

[sky-scribbles]

My book on aromanticism and asexuality comes out in a month! Shout-out to my publishers for just... giving me free rein to ramble about:

How amatonormativity hurts absolutely everyone

Why there are so many nonbinary and gender non-conforming aspecs

Why asexual awareness is essential in pushing back against incel culture (because men and boys deserve to know that manhood is not defined by sexual desire or prowess)

Why coming out as aspec can be so incredibly complicated, espeically for aspecs of colour

Advice from aspecs on how to navigate sex and relationships as an ace and/or aro person

A really wonderful bunch of stories from aspecs on what their non-normative relationships and families look like, from queerplatonic partners to poly aspecs to best friends raising kids together

How refusing amatonormativity can help us fight the loneliness epidemic, by encouraging people not to retreat into two-person units and instead invest in multiple close relationships of every kind

What steps we need to take to challenge aspec discrimination in medicine and the law

Why all you aspec people out there are an indispensible, revolutionary force that helps us all explore and create new models of love, relationship and family

So uh please do check it out if you think it might be up your street (or just because it'd really, really annoy a certain children's author who's decided aphobia is the new big thing)