#aro symbols

[it-is-only-a-novel]

Aspec symbols

So I've been trying to gather a list of aspec symbols! Old and new, widely accepted, but also more obscure. Here's my list so far, including links and explanations (in italics) where possible. I've tried also to add in the specific labels that the symbols "belong to" where relevant/possible.

Arospec:

the color green (and anything green)

white aro ring which is worn on the middle finger of the left hand link

aro flag

archery (bow & arrow)

arrows of any type

frogs they are green (this is a more general queer symbol as well) link & link

yellow roses (& yellow flowers in general, seems to be more for alloplatonic aros, since yellow represents platonic love) link

sunflowers (aroallos) aroallo flag colors link

aardvarks link

anglerfish link

manticores link

rats link

nandays and caiques link

griffins link

phoenixs link

anatomical hearts distancing ourselves from the regular outlook on love, and/or love in general may be more for loveless and/or heartless aros

<2 link

succulents green

cacti green & many do not want romantic partners and can be seen as prickly, or want to be prickly

plants in general green!!

"no romo"

hummingbirds (aroallos) link

pineapples (aroallos) link

pizza & ice cream link

kiwis link

the emojis:🫀, 🏹, ↖️, ↗️, 🌻, 💚,🍍, 🍏, 💘 explanations: link

paper crowns references jughead jones from the archie comics link

Acespec:

dragons link

cake cake is better than sex link

garlic bread

the color purple

black ace ring which is worn on the middle finger of the right hand link

ace flag

space

pirates "Ace pirates aren’t interested in your booty" link

wolves

ghosts (demisexuals) link

axolotls

denim vests

cryptids

AVEN triangle

ace cards suits: spades-aroaces, Hearts-Alloromantics, Diamonds-deamisexuals, Clubs-grey-asexuls link

the emojis: 💜, ♠️

some of these are based off this post, and this master post

Aplspec:

the colors blue & yellow in the apl flag

apples (green apples can be geared toward apls that are also aros)

blue heart 💙

bees

iridescence

apl flag

blue roses link

Blue apl ring on the thumb link

based off of this post, explanations are there.

Aspec:

aliens & robots reclaiming stereotypes about dehumanization link

Artemis goddess in Greek mythology focused on her passion for hunting. Represents finding fulfilment in other aspects of life not only sex, romance, friendship, love, and so on. Also used a bow & arrow link and also my own interpretation from reading about her

Many thanks to @merely-a-caricature, @the-big-gayheart, @heartless-aro, @arosunflower, @saffigon, @crab-in-progress, @aroace-thoughts, @apl-aro-narc, @entropy-sea-system, @dateademisexualpersonwho, @legally-x, @askanaroace, @aroace-people-are-lgtbq, @the-amber-droid-dreams, @foolishfynnesse and @itsnotasecret20 I used their posts/reblogs/comments to compile many of these symbols (and I've linked the posts). If I've missed someone, I apologize, it isn't intentional!

Last edit: 23/2/2024

I also want to add, that this post doesn't include all aspec identities, such as agender, afamilial, asensual, and more. They are important parts of the community, but I'm only informed on some, so couldn't include them.

[aroworlds]

This Aro Week, I've made cross-stitched card designs perfect for gifting to your favourite slightly-snarky aromantic.

The free tutorial includes patterns, card and fabric dimensions and a materials run-down as well as instructions on attaching an aida swatch to cardstock and other border techniques.

[heartless-aro]

A list of emojis that are aro to me:

🫀 - anatomical heart. using this as a substitute for other heart emojis is pretty aro tbh

♠︎/♠️- spade. more of an aroace symbol than a general aro symbol (because of the ace card suit symbolism). i mostly use it because i like the way it looks aesthetically tbh but it also is a pretty significant symbol for aroaces

🏹 - bow and arrow. need i say more?

⬅️⤵️↗️ - literally any arrow emoji. because ar(r)o(w)

🥒 - cucumber. looks like zucchini. zucchini = slang term for a partner in a queerplatonic relationship

🥀 - wilted rose. because red roses represent romance, and romance is dead (i killed it myself)

💐- bouquet of roses. this one is a bit aro because it contains yellow roses, which are aromantic culture.

🌻 - sunflower. i just think yellow flowers (yellow roses especially, but also just yellow flowers in general) are aro

💚 - green heart. it is green. that is aro.

🍍- pineapple. since pineapples are an alloaro symbol.

🍏 - green apple. for apl-spec aros because green is aro and apples are apl

🫁 - lungs. as a cold, loveless aro, i have no heart to wax poetic about as alloromantic people often get to do. because of this, i have chosen the lungs to be the internal organ that i glamorize. it just makes me feel included

💘 - heart with arrow. it has an arrow in it, which is enough for me tbh.

[alloaroworlds]

[image description: a collection of cross-stitch patches in allosexual aromantic--green, light green, white, yellow and gold--and finished with hand-embroidered edges. Patches include pineapples, dragons, hearts, rainbows, square and zigzag flags, arrows and the words "alloaro", "allosexual" and "pride".]

Because my main project for @aggressivelyarospec's Aggressively Arospectacular is all about the aromantic flag, I thought I'd add some yellow and gold to proceedings with a photo of some of the allo-aro cross-stitch patches I've made over the years.

I do have more: these are just the patches I have yet to attach to my backpack and jacket. Is it more fun to sew the patches then it is to sew the patches onto something else? Absolutely!

[a-romantic--aromantic]

for smarter aros than me, whens the last time you saw aro/ace symbols? i never really leave my romoaro bubble. personally ive only seen: rings, arrows, heart variations (💚💔🫀<2), and maybe frogs/succulents ever so often. also idk if “no romo” or the color green count but that too ig

i just am curious if in my little bubble ive been missing things out in the general aro community.

[disasterdemi]

🥭

Thanks for the ask! :))

🥭 - Do you have any alloaro symbols that you like? (Could be your own symbols, doesn't have to be widespread in the community)

I like plants with yellow flowers, they give me alloaro vibes and always seem very happy. Anything archery themed is always good. And I rly like the aphrodite lesbian thing, I think it's a neat description. I also feel a very strong connection to moon symbolism – for many reasons I think, but aromanticism definitely feels like part of it.

[entropy-sea-system]

Hey! So, ever since the post pointing out the severe lack of aro symbols that aren't shared with aces in comparison to the ones that are, I've been thinking. What symbols would y'all suggest to represent us in some form?

I just thought of ice as a potential symbol, because of the "cold aro" bs aros get, and the more I think it over, I think it'd be a neat way to reclaim the term! Of course there's absolutely nothing wrong with having what is perceived as a cold personality- it would be reclaiming the term from the arophobes who weaponize it.

Another symbol for our community that I've thought of- clovers! I'm not sure how many other aros have thought of this but the green color of them, the distinct shape, and the good luck and prosperity symbolism seem to me like they'd make clovers a great symbol for aros!

I'd appreciate hearing y'alls thoughts on this :)

We haven't thought of any yet, but if we do, might update!

There is actually a reclamation label calles 'cold aro' in existence, so ice does make sense as a symbol! Though idk if aces see it as their symbol too bc.. I saw it be related to an elsa ace(they probably meant aroace) headcanon so not sure.

Clovers seem like a good symbol too bc its green and also the reasons you described!

I generally feel more aware of what I feel should be true of an aro symbol than what I'd want to be an aro symbol:

-Not extremely linked to and/or directly from ace symbols

-Not assuming alloplatonicism and/or plato-favorability

-Not assuming that all aros are romance-averse, qpr-favorable, sex-averse etc...

-Perhaps reclaiming a stereotype or for aro positivity

-Inclusive of all aros

[kissimirrit]

i drew this back in 2016, 7 years ago, during the height of anti-aspec hate going on.

there's a lot i could say about that time; the harassment i faced, the cruel things said about me and those like me, the erasure and the pathologization of our existence, etc. but what i remember most profoundly is the burning kinship i felt for other aspecs, and the desire to fight for us.

and, in my spite, i was determined to love and take pride in my asexuality and aromanticism in the face of all that hate, because i refused to succumb to feelings of self-flagellation any longer.

i think about this time often. how it was the catalyst for me to learn to love myself. i loved my asexual and aromantic siblings, because i loved asexuality and aromanticism. because i loved myself. because i loved what i am.

because i'm aroace.

happy pride month.

[117-opossum-teeth]

<2 hand symbol anyone ??

[redysetdare]

Y'all realize garlic bread started as an asexual symbol first right? The whole start of it was in reference to "garlic bread is better than sex" idk where the idea came about that it started as an aromantic symbol with "bad garlic breath saving you from kissing"???

Not saying garlic bread can't be a shared symbol but it's super weird to hear ppl claiming it was an aro only symbol and completely ignoring the roots it has as a symbol in the ace community??

[it-is-only-a-novel]

Hi, could you by any chance make an the aspec symbols post article somewhere else than tumblr so it could be cited in the wikipedia for aromanticism? Sorry if this is too big an ask.

That sounds like fun actually. But I honestly wouldn't know how to do it. I don't have a blog outside Tumblr.

If there are any suggestions, I'd be happy to see if I can do it. I'm open to starting a different blog or something, any suggestions are welcome.

[aroworlds]

I thought I might also show off some of my cross-stitch patches during @aggressivelyarospec's Aggressively Arospectacular, especially my collection of quoi, nebula and vague patches (as an aro who floats about said trifecta of identities because comprehending attraction and my relationship to it is difficult).

I do have more: these are just the patches I have yet to attach to my backpack and jacket. It's just so much less fun to sew my patches onto things than it is to sew the patches, so I have a huge backlog!

[heartless-aro]

what's the story behind aardvarks and yellow roses?

Yellow Roses

Ok so yellow roses are a bit more straightforward to explain, so I’m gonna start there. Outside of the aromantic community, yellow roses traditionally symbolize friendship. Because of this symbolism, when the first aromantic flag (the four stripe flag with green, yellow, orange, and black, shown below) was published on the website for the National Coalition for Aromantic Visibility (NCAV), the flag included a yellow stripe which represented romantic friendship, friends with benefits, friendship dating, and queerplatonic relationships.

The redesigns of the flag also included a yellow stripe (to represent lithromantics) though I’m not sure whether this was at all inspired by the yellow stripe in the original flag (if anyone knows please lmk). Still, it’s an interesting piece of aro history for sure. We still see yellow being used to represent platonic attraction sometimes (notably, on the queerplatonic flag), so there could be some link there as well (though that’s a bit of speculation).

Before the “ace discourse” era on here, I also used to see yellow roses by themselves being used as a symbol of aromanticism by aromantics due to platonic love being intrinsic to how many people experience their aromanticism. It wasn’t as common of a symbol as, say, aardvarks or spades, but it was common enough to be recognizable as a symbol. It was especially used as a symbol of platonic love and attraction within the aro community, as one might expect. Here’s a screenshot of one instance of this that I found digging through old posts by @aromanticaardvark on Wayback Machine. The post is from 2015.

I’m not sure why, but I’ve always personally liked the yellow roses as an aro symbol even if I don’t entirely relate to the platonic love symbolism (in fact, I could be considered aplatonic, though I don’t often label myself as such).

I actually use the blue roses in my header as a nod to the old yellow rose symbol, in case anyone was curious about that. (I chose blue roses instead of yellow since, as I said, the platonic love symbolism isn’t particularly relatable to me. Plus blue roses are often used to symbolize unattainable or unrequited love, which I thought was fitting since I myself am unattainable, and any romantic feelings directed towards me will forever be unrequited).

Aardvarks

So, I’m about 90% sure that the aardvark symbol was started by @aromanticaardvark, who used to be one of the big name blogs in the aro community (though their blog has been inactive since 2016). Back when advice animal memes were a thing, the person behind the Aromantic Aardvark blog used to post aromantic-themed advice animal memes which featured an aardvark. (An example of one such meme originally posted on the Aromantic Aardvark blog in 2011 is shown below).

In 2015, Aromantic Aardvark received the anonymous ask “What does the aardvark have to do with it?” to which they replied “Nothing, really, it’s just alliterative. Aromantic Aardvark was founded when advice animals were a common meme here on tumblr, and my friend and I thought it’d be funny if there were an aromantic meme. That aspect of the blog eventually went away however, and it became more of a general resource/advice blog for aro spectrum people.” This would seem to imply that the use of aardvarks to symbolize aromantics originated on the Aromantic Aardvark tumblr blog.

This would make sense seeing as Aromantic Aardvark was one of the early aromantic blogs, and was even linked on the NCAV website back in 2014.

Aardvarks were used pretty commonly as an aromantic symbol for a while. Notably, the AroPlane forum, where a lot of early discussions about aromantic symbols and flag redesigns took place, used a drawing of an aardvark in its website banner (see below).

I’m honestly not quite sure when aardvarks started to decline in use as an aromantic symbol though.

[alloaroworlds]

[image description: five sets of two lockscreens featuring a design of repeated arrows banded in the colours of various allosexual aromantic spectrum pride flags. The left lockscreen features the arrows set against a gradient background matching its respective flag colours; the right features the arrows set against a plain white background. Flags included are: allo-aro (green/light green/white/yellow/gold), allo-aro spectrum (green/aqua/bright pink/light blue/white/yellow/gold), loveless allo-aro (dark to light grey gradient/light green/yellow/gold/light to dark grey gradient), allo-aro agender (green/light green/white/light green/white/yellow/gold) and allo-aro aplatonic (gold/yellow/white/light green/blue).]

Allo-Aro Arrow Lockscreens, Part One

Flags: Allo-Aro, Allo-Aro Spectrum, Loveless Allo-Aro, Allo-Aro Agender, Allo-Aro Aplatonic.

I’m gathering my allo-aro lockscreens (mostly because I can never remember if I’ve reblogged them here!) for easy viewing in the one post.

All backgrounds/wallpapers are available for free personal or non-commercial use. For flag creator credits, please see @aroflagarchive​.

[our-arospec-experience]

DND IS BETTER THAN AMATONORMATIVITY SO REAL. You’ll have to kill me before I stop making my PCs acearo. “Oh you’re a bard? That means you want to date all of the NPCs right??’ WRONG I am just a silly little man let me play my silly little lute in the corner.

:D

[rouge-the-bat]

♠️♥️ Aspec Symbol ♦️♣️

had the idea for this a while ago, and just now finally put it together! the card suits are common symbolism amongst the aspec community, so this design of combining all the suits together popped in my head one day, and i think itd be a perfect symbol to represent all aspecs and the various aspec identities!

and here is the symbol colored with the ace and aro flags, with two aro varients:

(see the layer components here)