#aro words wordpress

[aroworlds]

After six (very slow!) years of writing, Hallo, Aro comprises eighteen short fiction and creative-non-fiction pieces about allosexual aro protagonists--all collected on my website, Patreon or Tumblr.

Stories include:

Unspoken

Leaving

Friendship

Lucky

Attraction

Existence

Neuronormative

Loveless

Monstrous

Pressure, Side One

Pressure, Side Two

Abrasive

Question

Antagonist

Witch

Hunter

Pillar

Tomorrow

Please expect fantasy and fairy tale motifs, trans and multisexual characters, a dash of autism, a great deal of amatonormativity, and a pervasive struggle for recognition by family, society and community.

[aceadmiral]

Infographic on the history of the word “queerplatonic” by Coyote

[Transcript below cut]

Where Did the Word “Queerplatonic” Come From?

For a long time, there had been frustrations in the ace community about the binary of “friendship” and “romance.” Sometimes the distinctions between them can be blurry, especially without sex as the dividing line, and they’re often treated as a hierarchy.

Then on Dec 24, 2010, an asexual named Kaz posted a reflection on Dreamwidth about someone important to zem. In the post, ze complained of the societal expectation that relationships always fit into “neat little restricted boxes.”

Meloukhia (s.e. smith), who identified as aro ace at the time, left a comment that used the word queerplatonic in reference to smith’s own partner and feelings. This term conveys the idea of queering the platonic, and it struck a chord with a lot of people. Finally, the community had a word for this idea.

In the years that followed, smith brought the word queerplatonic to Tumblr and WordPress as well, indicating that it is open for anyone of any identity to use. Other aces like Sciatrix began using it for their own desires and relationships, helping it to spread.

The common expectation is that people will always put romantic-sexual relationships first, with everyone else diminished as “just” friends. Queerplatonic relationships defy categorization by this binary.

Today, the word “queerplatonic” has spread throughout ace and aro communities. As always, it remains open for anyone to use!

[crow-caller]

I posted 634 times in 2022

107 posts created (17%)

527 posts reblogged (83%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@les8ean

@gullbones

@lokebrenna

@spearxwind

@crow-caller

I tagged 255 of my posts in 2022

#sometimes theres asks - 24 posts

#book review - 14 posts

#books - 14 posts

#art appreciation tag - 14 posts

#pokemon - 12 posts

#review - 11 posts

#yewchube - 9 posts

#lightlark - 9 posts

#taskmaster - 7 posts

#mortal engines - 7 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#i will finally buy from your store one of these days. okay i did years ago when you had a print of good angel charas.... but god so nice. so

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Me: I should read something good and refreshing

Me: (opens That One YA Dystopia About Human Pets)

See the full post

105 notes - Posted September 30, 2022

#4

That One YA Dystopia Trilogy about Human Pets: Perfected

I read an entire book trilogy at once for this review, and it’s 2014 to 2018’s Perfected by Kate Jarvik Birch, a mainstream published series about humans being kept as pets.

Aw jeez.

I’ve never done a full trilogy at once, but after Lightlark I wanted to do something properly exciting. Slash disturbing. This will be roughly the same format I always do- full synopsis with discussion, and broader analysis. (And yes! This trilogy, which unilaterally earns 0 stars, is better than Lightlark!)

Read On WordPress here! Or the video is below which is the same!

148 notes - Posted October 18, 2022

#3

people love to infantilize asexual people like im not out here serving cunt 24/7 you just aren’t allowed to touch it

291 notes - Posted June 12, 2022

#2

I write silly books about angels and demons and love as the world ends around you (and how maybe it can still be okay in the end anyways)

A naive angel befriends a bullied demon and that forbidden friendship kick-starts the apocalypse. About identity and love and what it's like to be a cosmic being not meant to have free will.

A huge swath of LGBT characters and stuff too, especially in the realm of questioning and experimenting. No real romance, just friendship, and ace/aro/queer stuff.

If you don't know, it's about impossible for indie authors to spread the word about their work. I'm a very ill and disabled person unable to work, so every reblog and especially review matters so much.

I offer free copies for anyone who wants one. Ideally you'd review, but I just want people to be able to read them.

Gum eboook

Amaz print

Goodreads

336 notes - Posted September 11, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Tiktok sensation LightLark is the final boss of bad fantasy YA— a failure built on aesthetic boards and tropes, unable to pretend it has a heart

Tiktok sensation LightLark is the final boss of bad fantasy YA— a failure built on aesthetic boards and tropes, unable to pretend it has a heart

View On WordPress (Includes audio version)

A full summary with spoilers, analysis, quotes- and so much more on the subject of a book you should never read. This is a long piece. Like ‘Youtube Video Essay’ long.

Lightlark is joyless, a husk beyond parody, a checklist of every Island of Blood and Bone and Glass and Hearts that has come out in the last five years, built and sold on tropes and aesthetic boards. This is a book written by an author who is not a writer. It would fit in on the dregs of an amateur writing site with eerie perfection.

But Lightlark is more than that. You see, Lightlark is… a TikTok book.

EDIT:

See the full post

10,013 notes - Posted September 16, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[violetemerald]

Carnival of Aros - October 2021 Call for Submissions: "Friendship"

The Carnival of Aros is a month-long recurring blogging festival where bloggers on different platforms all write (or vlog, or create content) on a specific theme. Also - Anonymous submissions are a possibility, see the end of this post for the details! Submissions are typically posted on everyone's own blog (or whatever platform they use, such as YouTube). If you need me to host your post on my blog (as either a "guest post" submission crediting you or as an anonymous submission) please let me know. Different bloggers typically host the carnival each month. I'm trying to avoid putting any links in this tumblr post so as to avoid it being hidden by the algorithm. But you can find the WordPress blog for the Carnival of Aros by a quick internet search, and you can also find my original and more in depth Call for Submissions on my "violetemeraldx" WordPress blog.

Carnival of Aros team reached out asking if I might be willing to host again, because they needed volunteers to host future months. Please consider volunteering!

For October 2021, the theme I chose is "Friendship". The prompts below are meant to help give you ideas of various directions you could take your submissions, but the topic is meant to be broad so anything that the word inspires, even if it has nothing to do with any of the prompts below, is welcome!

Prompts:

What comes to mind when you think of the words friendship and friend? How do you define them? How do others define these words? Do those things tend to diverge in any ways?

How can friendship be associated with or related to romance?

As an aromantic person or person on the aro spectrum, how does that affect your friendships? How does it affect what types of friendships you desire or specifically don't desire?

Does your gender affect how you approach friendships? Do other people's genders affect your friendships with them?

Does your sexual orientation affect your approach to friendship? Do any other orientations of yours you may have affect your approach?

Do you feel like aro communities have any specific ideas about friendship?

Are there any things you associate with friendship? For example, I now associate yellow heart emojis 💛 with friendship because when I was a kid (before emojis were a thing) my mom had taught me that yellow roses symbolized friendship

Are there specific activities you'd like to do with a friend or you do enjoy doing with friends?

Group friendships! What do you have to say about friendships between 3 or more people? How is friendship related to community?

Submissions are due on the final day of the month, which is Halloween: Sunday, October 31st. I will be typing up a draft of the round-up of all submissions on Sunday, October 31st and posting the round-up on Monday November 1st, however if you are late and want me to add your submission into the round-up after the fact by editing the post, feel free to contact me into November and that's fine. I'm happy to add it in later.

When You Finish Writing/Creating Your BLOG/Vlog/Poem/Etc and are Ready to Submit It:

There are many ways to submit to me but I'm avoiding writing some of them out here on tumblr in case that hides this post from people's dashboards.. Check out my violetemeraldx WP blog for the detailed and full list of options. You may message your post to me here on tumblr, email it, submit it via a Google form (which is my preference), comment on my WP blog with it, contact me on VioletEmeraldx on twitter, or add me as a friend and then message me at VioletEmerald#8738 on Discord.

If you'd like for a post to be hosted on my blog as a guest submission, and/or if you would like to be anonymous, I can do that for you. Please email me your submission with instructions and I'll post a guest post. You can find my email on my WordPress or you can message me to ask for it. Another option is to create an anonymized version of your post as another option, like you submit anonymously via the Google Form a link to it on a site that is not otherwise linked to any of your known pseudonyms.

[double-a-plus]

The Ace Theist created this infographic that summarizes the history of the word queerplatonic. Here’s also an older post it made on the genealogy of the term. Both are great reference resources. The transcript for the infographic is below:

Where Did the Word “Queerplatonic” Come From?

For a long time, there had been frustrations in the ace community about the binary of “friendship” and “romance.” Sometimes the distinctions between them can be blurry, especially without sex as the dividing line, and they’re often treated as a hierarchy.

Then on Dec 24, 2010, an asexual named Kaz posted a reflection on Dreamwidth about someone important to zem. In the post, ze complained of the societal expectation that relationships always fit into “neat little restricted boxes.”

Meloukhia (s.e. smith), who identified as aro ace at the time, left a comment that used the word queerplatonic in reference to smith’s own partner and feelings. This term conveys the idea of queering the platonic, and it struck a chord with a lot of people. Finally, the community had a word for this idea.

In the years that followed, smith brought the word queerplatonic to Tumblr and WordPress as well, indicating that it is open for anyone of any identity to use. Other aces like Sciatrix began using it for their own desires and relationships, helping it to spread.

The common expectation is that people will always put romantic-sexual relationships first, with everyone else diminished as “just” friends. Queerplatonic relationships defy categorization by this binary.

Today, the word “queerplatonic” has spread throughout ace and aro communities. As always, it remains open for anyone to use!

[graces-of-luck]

Well-being and Amatonormativity: Call for Submissions (Carnival of Aros, August 2021)

Word count: 405 words Reading time: Approximately 2-3 minutes Content warning: Amatonormativity

The Carnival of Aros is a monthly blogging carnival with themes related to aromantic and aro-spec identities and experiences. More information can be found here.

Theme

As a mental health researcher, I find it important to gain more insight into the well-being of aromantics and the potential relationship with amatonormativity. Being aromantic can be a wonderful experience, but larger societal systems and standards can create barriers and issues for many of us.

Amatonormativity is pervasive and can potentially prevent folks from living their full lives. While this affects everyone (even alloromantics), aromantics can be particularly affected by amatonormativity. It can impact us in numerous ways, from making it difficult for us to have fulfilling relationships to preventing us from being able to afford housing. From a survey of about 1,000 aro-spec respondents, 72% felt that it had a negative impact on their mental health. How much of an impact does amatonormativity have on your well-being? Prompts below.

Prompts

Generally, does amatonormativity have a negative impact on your life, especially as an aromantic person?

How much of an impact does amatonormativity have on your mental health, specifically?

Do you feel that amatonormativity impedes you from getting your needs met in any way?

Which areas of your life are impacted the most by amatonormativity?

Does or did amatonormativity have an effect on you coming to terms/accepting your aromanticism? Does it or has it had an impact on you coming out?

How does amatonormativity affect your a) present situation and b) future outlook?

What are some things you do to mitigate the impact of amatonormativity on yourself, such as with self-care practices?

How do you live your best life despite the challenges of amatonormativity?

How to Participate

Write a blog post or create content related to the theme- any platform is acceptable as long as it is public and has a link. Then, submit the link to me through Tumblr (https://graces-of-luck.tumblr.com/ask) or email (gracesofluck@gmail.com). If you don’t have a place to post your own work, you can email it to me, and I will host it for you on my Tumblr. If you would like me to include particular pronouns or (user)names with your submission post in the round-up, please let me know.

Deadline and Round-up

Please submit your posts by Tuesday, August 31st. I plan to release the round-up by Saturday, September 4th.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me!

Cross-posted on Wordpress.

[alloaroworlds]

Hallo, Aro is a series of flash fiction stories about allosexual aromantic characters navigating friendship, sexual attraction, aromanticism and the weight of amatonormative expectation.

I’ve now got twelve allo-aro short fiction and creative non-fiction pieces in this collection!

Folks can download PDF, EPUB and MOBI files for free from my Patreon, read individual stories on my WordPress site or view them all here on Tumblr:

Unspoken

Leaving

Friendship

Lucky

Attraction

Existence

Neuronormative

Loveless

Monstrous

Pressure, Side One

Pressure, Side Two

Abrasive

No story is longer than a thousand words. Please expect sex references in various degrees of explicitness and sundry depictions of amatonormativity.

[arowrimo]

AroWriMo 2021 Roundup

Here is the compilation of all 48 works submitted to AroWriMo 2021!

We have a lot of variety this year - short stories, poetry, non-fiction, a play, song lyrics, a zine, flash fiction and some novel/novellas! Check out the impressive writing collected here and support the writers themselves - links to their other sites/accounts are included where possible. Give them a look/follow, and share the works you really enjoy!

Thanks to all who submitted and shared for a wonderful AroWriMo 2021, and I look forward to doing it again in 2022!

Play/Script

Leaving: A (very) Unfinished Stage Play by charcharcharace (blogspot)

Post, direct link (blogspot) Summary: A fractured personal narrative on entering and leaving an unhealthy relationship and the pain of being aromantic without that knowledge. Word Count: 1200 Theme: Humanity Language: English Genre: Personal CW: Depression, manipulation, unhealthy romantic relationship, processing self-blame

Novels/Novellas

Syrinxian Diamond: Chapter One by charcharcharace (blogspot)

Post, Direct link (blogspot) Summary: After a heist gone wrong, our hero is caught up in an interdimensional prophecy that just may bring them answers to the questions they don't know how to put into words, a feeling of difference, of not feeling right acting how they're supposed to act - but what other way is there to be? Follow our hero through desert ruins, the Wild West, a royal ball, and of course, a midnight trip to the library. Word Count: 2539 Prompt: Hope Theme: Fantasy, Ancient World Language: English Genre: Portal Fantasy, Heist CW: Unsupportive sibling, chapter one features the absence of knowledge of aromanticism, and doesn't feature aromanticism directly.

Oh, the truth shall set you free by @amanita-cynth

Summary: “I know exactly four things about Alway.” She said wryly. “She’s 23, a genius, she keeps at least three feet between her and other people at all times, and she can root out the truth like nobody else.” Of course, coming from another profiler, such an assessment carried a lot of weight. Eden Alway, the newest member of an FBI profiling unit, is odd even by their standards. But as they begin to pry more into her life and struggle with some of what they find, her past is racing to catch up with her and drag them into the storm that was her life. Featuring misunderstandings, odd behaviour, the constant problems of amatonormativity, and a rapidly escalating series of bizarre problems that they are in no way qualified for but definitely isn’t magic. Word Count: 11000 Prompt: Non-romantic Relationships, Self-reliance Theme: Fantasy Language: English Genre: Crime, portal fantasy CW: Romance, Violence, Gore, amatonormativity, religious imagery, mild body horror later on, currently a WIP

Lyrics

Embers by @clad-in-sunshine​ (Wordpress, Twitter)

Post, Direct link (tumblr), Direct link (wordpress) Summary: I’m terrible at picking titles. But I have been enjoying writing songs, and this is one I wrote for AroWriMo and the Valentines theme of ‘Love, Romance and Friendship’ at my local folk club. The middle part is entirely uninteresting to me, so this is more about love and friendship than anything else, and the various forms that can take. The tune is called 'Midnight on The Water'. Word Count: 479 Prompt: Non-romantic Relationships, Self-reliance Language: English Genre: Singer/songwriter, Folk

Games/Interactive Media

Superheroes Inc. by charcharcharace (blogspot)

Post, Direct link (blogspot) Summary: It's time for your first day as the Supervising Hero Response Manager at Superhero Incorporated, the largest collection of super heroes on the US West Coast. It's a big step up from your last job managing a team of five up-and-comers out of Chicago to supervising a nearly a hundred teams. Your priority, of course, is choosing which of the 12 big league heroes to have Shadow teleport to high crisis events. Word Count: 3000 Prompt: Future Theme: Sci-Fi Language: English Genre: Sci-Fi CW: Death, Bigotry

Comics/Zine

My Aro Heart: A Zine by charcharcharace (blogspot)

Post, Direct link (blogspot) Summary:   A short zine about loving the aro community. Word Count: 50 Language: English Genre: Zine CW: Love (non-romantic)

Flash Fiction

#3 by @fuckin-fudge-nutter

Post link, Direct link (google docs) Word Count: 304 Prompt: Future Theme: Defying Expectations Language: English Genre: Realistic Fiction CW: Mild internalized arophobia

A Moth And No Flames by @voidpunk.kenku on Instagram

Post, Direct link (toyhou.se) Word Count: 337 Category: Flash Fiction Prompt: Hope Language: English Genre: gaslamp fantasy CW: insects

Future by 27twinsister on Ao3

Post, Direct link (Ao3) Summary: Hikari would be alone forever. He liked that idea. The note contains my headcanons for Hikari and what the words mean. Word Count: 146 Prompt: Future Language: English Fandom: Ressha Sentai ToQger, Nonomura Hikari Genre: Character study CW: None

Loveless by 27twinsister on Ao3

Post, Direct link (Ao3) Summary: Takeru and Akari love each other (not like that, this is genfic). Mentions “ love potions or something” in one line. The note contains my headcanons for Takeru and what the words mean. Word Count: 231 Prompt: Romo/loveless Language: English Fandom: Kamen Rider Ghost Genre: Fantasy/Supernatural, hurt/comfort CW: None given

Music by 27twinsister

Post, direct link (Ao3) Summary: Shinnosuke didn’t like silence. He liked being in an environment with other people, or with background noise. That only caused a bit of trouble at home once he lived with Kiriko. Word Count: 223 Category: Flash Fiction Prompt: Music Language: English Fandom: Kamen Rider Drive Genre: Character study CW: None

Freedom by 27twinsister

Post, direct link (Ao3) Summary: Eiji likes his freedom. The note contains my headcanons for Eiji and what the words mean. Word Count: 140 Category: Flash Fiction Prompt: Freedom Language: English Fandom: Kamen Rider OOO Genre: Character study CW: None

Mirror by 27twinsister

Post, direct link (Ao3) Summary: Tsukasa doesn’t dwell in any world. He just stays for as long as he needs. The note contains my headcanons for Tsukasa and what the words mean. Word Count: 223 Category: Flash Fiction Prompt: Music Language: English Fandom: Kamen Rider Decade Genre: Character study CW: None

Hope by 27twinsister

Post, Direct link (Ao3) Summary: Haruto is nervous about coming out. Word Count: 150 Category: Flash Fiction Prompt: Hope Language: English Fandom: Kamen Rider Wizard Genre: Character study CW: None

Self-Reliance by 27twinsister (Ao3)

Post, direct link (Ao3) Summary: Tsubasa likes to be alone. The note contains my headcanons for Tsubasa and what the words mean.   Word Count: 161 Prompt: Self-reliance Language: English Fandom: Mahou Sentai Magiranger             Genre: Character study CW: None

Non-Romantic Relationships by 27twinsister (Ao3)

Post, Direct link (Ao3) Summary:   Jiro doesn’t know if his relationship with Yuki is romantic. But it’s special to him. The note contains my headcanons for Jiro and what the words mean   Word Count: 209 Prompt: Non-Romantic Relationships Language: English Fandom: Dogengers Genre: Character study CW: Romance mention

Non-fiction

Thursday Thoughts: AroWriMo Week 1: Romo/Loveless & Future by @sophieakatz​

Post, Direct link Word Count: 562 Prompt: Romo/Loveless, Future Language: English CW: Romance mention

The Future Is Arospec by aceofarrows

Post, Direct link Summary: This blog post talks about the nature of romantic attraction, why getting rid of amatonormativity is a worthwhile project, and how arospec people can help bring this about by getting involved in political activism and queer liberation. Word Count: 800 Category: Non-fiction Prompt: Romo/loveless, Future Language: English CW: None

Freedom and Music by @nzcienif

Post, direct link Word Count: 488 Prompt: Freedom, Music Theme: Defying Expectations Language: English Genre: Non Fiction CW: None Link: https://nzcienif.tumblr.com/post/642572547990421504/arowrimo-week-2-freedom-and-music Promo: https://nzcienif.tumblr.com/

The Demand for Freedom to Be Oneself  by @graces-of-luck​

Post, direct link Word Count: 363 Prompt: Freedom Theme: Defying Expectations Language: English Genre: Narrative CW: None

Thursday Thoughts: AroWriMo Week 2: Freedom & Music by @sophieakatz​

Post, direct link Word Count: 647 Prompt: Freedom, Music Language: English Genre: Non Fiction CW: None

Defying expectations by @aallotarenunelma

Post, direct link Word Count: 986 Prompt: Hope, Mirror Theme: Defying Expectations Language: English Genre: Essay CW: Romance, Amatonormativity

Aro Visions and Hopes by @penandquillcafe ( @aroacechillzone )

Post, Direct link Word Count: 729 Prompt: Hope, Mirror Language: English Genre: Nonfiction CW: amatonormativity, arophobia, loneliness (metaphor)

Thursday Thoughts: AroWriMo Week 3: Hope & Mirror by @sophieakatz

Post, Direct link Word count: 201 Prompt: Hope, Mirror Language: English Genre: Non-fiction CW: Romance mention, Sex mention

Relationship Anarchy and Hugs by charcharcharace (blogspot)

Post, Direct link (blogspot) Summary: Applying relationship anarchy to family relationships and hugs. Word Count: 522 Prompt: Non-romantic Relationships Theme: Defying Expectations Language: English Genre: Non-Fiction CW: consent issues, boundary breaking

Thursday Thoughts: AroWriMo Week 4: Non-Romantic Relationships & Self-Reliance by @sophieakatz

Post, Direct link (tumblr) Word Count: Prompt: Non-romantic Relationships, Self-reliance Language: English Genre: Non-fiction CW: Romance mention

Poetry

Untitled by @brilliantsnafu

Post, Direct link Word Count: 38 Prompt: Romo/loveless, Future Language: English Genre: Nonfiction CW: Bigotry, arophobia; amatonormativity

Little Boxes by anon

Post, Direct link (Google docs) Word Count: 456 Prompt: Freedom Theme: Choosing to be Yourself Language: English Genre: Poem/non-fiction

To My Dear and Loving... by @writingthingsilike​

Post, Direct link (tumblr) Summary: A poem about being aromantic but still wanting a life partner Word Count: 165 Prompt: Non-romantic Relationships Theme: Choosing to be Yourself Language: English Genre: Non-fiction CW: None

AroAce by Catolica (Ao3)

Post, Direct link (Ao3) Word Count: 254 Language: English CW: Choose not to use warnings

icarus' stone by @franzimaya  (@witchreyna on Twitter)

Post, direct link Word Count: 199 Prompt: Freedom Theme: Choosing to be Yourself Language: English Genre: Poetry CW: Grief

The End of the Rouse Family Tree by @turnovers-and-coke (@arbys-chocolate-turnover, Wattpad)

Post, Direct link Word Count: 144 Prompt: Mirror Theme: Choosing to be Yourself Language: English Genre: poetry CW: None

Care, uncoupled by @graces-of-luck

Post, Direct link (tumblr) Word Count: 149 Prompt: Non-romantic Relationships Theme: Humanity Language: English Genre: Free Verse CW: Romance

Human = ( X - Y ) / Z by charcharcharace (blogspot)

Post, Direct link (blogspot) Summary: A poem about human essentialism Word Count: 129 Theme: Humanity Language: English Genre: Poetry CW: Mentions of essentialism and touches on dehumanizing ideas

Short Stories

Chasing Shadows by @secret-arrow-man

Post, Direct link Summary:  A questioning aro discusses relationship problems with an old friend. Word Count: 660 Theme: Choosing to be Yourself Language: English Genre: Fiction CW: Romance, Alcohol mention

My Valentine by @bimboztown on twitter

Post, Direct link (Google docs) Word Count: 305 Category: Short Stories Theme: Choosing to be Yourself Language: English Genre: Coming of Age CW: Suicide attempt mention

Made on the Shore by @clad-in-sunshine 

Post, Direct link Summary:  Cora had never had much interest in people, and had chosen to live alone on the shore for years by this point. When a ship sails close, she has to deal with both her interest in it and the Captain’s interest in her. Based on the song ‘Fair Maid on The Shore’. Word Count: 2129 Prompt: Romo/loveless, Future Theme: Choosing to be Yourself Language: English Genre: Fiction, Ambiguous historical fiction CW: Romance, Guns, Alcohol

What is given by @amanita-cynth (Ao3)

Post, direct link Summary: A short exploration of a woman helping a traumatised, adopted girl come to terms with her newfound freedom. Word Count: 5645 Category: Short Stories Prompt: Freedom, Music Theme: Choosing to be Yourself Language: English Genre: Mildly Science Fiction CW: mentions of human experimentation

Lady in the Mirror by @amanita-cynth (Ao3)

Post, direct link (Ao3) Summary: Everyone knows the story of the lady in the mirror. How she picks those she appears to is unknown. What she offers and why it is offered is similarly a mystery; those few that have interacted with her and speak of it are reluctant to share details. Maybe that is why the stories are so well-known, so far-travelled. The mystery calls to people and they want to believe they can solve it. Word Count: 1799 Prompt: Hope, Mirror Theme: Choosing to be Yourself Language: English Genre: Fantasy CW: None

Lights, Camera, Aro! by charcharcharace (blogspot)

Post, Direct link (blogspot) Summary: An aromantic actress is conflicted over how to engage with a romantically coded improv challenge. Word Count: 1885 Theme: Choosing to be Yourself Language: English Genre: Literary CW: a ghost, pressure.

Dark secret love by @aallotarenunelma

Post, Direct link (part a), Direct link (part b) Summary:  What if an aspec Wicked Lawless Love MC was paired with the incubus Sascha? Word Count: 6941 Language: English Fandom: Wicked Lawless Love (Lovestruck app), Sascha Orosco x MC (Suna) Genre: Fantasy CW: Death, Romance, Sexual content

Thought That Cupid Shot Me With Love But It Was Only An Aro by @entity9silvergen (Ao3, FF.net)

Post, Direct link (Tumblr), Direct link (Ao3) Summary:  Soulmates were supposed to be the other half of your soul. Your one true love. Ino always dreamed of finding her soulmate. Sai never wanted one. Still, they cared for each other so they were going to make it work. Somehow.

Word Count: 10000 Prompt: Romo/loveless, Future Language: English Fandom: Naruto. Characters: Sai, Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi Genre: Friendship/ Relationships CW: Mentioned Canon Death, Minor Aphobia

Mosaic by @entity9silvergen​ (Ao3, FF.net)

Post, Direct link (tumblr), Direct link (Ao3) Summary:  We are just mosaics of everyone we love and that mosaic shows everyone we love how beautiful they are. Bean doesn’t think she can love like everyone else but maybe that’s okay. Word Count: 2000 Language: English Fandom: Disenchantment. Characters: Bean Genre: Friendship, Self-Reflection CW: Internalized arophobia,  some self-deprecation, sex mention, drug mention, mention of canon interspecies relationships in fantasy setting Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29230041 Promo: entity9silvergen on Ao3, FFN, and tumblr

We Dance To Fast Music by @entity9silvergen​ (Ao3, FF.net)

Post, direct link (tumblr), direct link (Ao3) Summary: Zuko didn’t like to dance. Neither did Mai. But Ty Lee did and they’d do it for her. Fortunately for them, Ty Lee cared about how they felt and wanted to show them just how wonderful music could be. All Zuko and Mai knew were slow dances, the things of ballrooms and romance. Ty Lee only knew the dances of friendship, freedom, and fun. Word Count: 8000 Prompt: Freedom, Music Language: English Fandom: Avatar The Last Airbender. Characters: Zuko, Mai, Ty Lee, Sokka, Suki, Aang, Katara, Toph Genre: Friendship CW: None

Oblique  by @entity9silvergen (Ao3, FF.net)

Post, Direct link (Ao3) Summary: Unable to experience romantic attraction, Remus feels incomplete. Unable to feel sexual attraction, Roman feels less than. Maybe as the King, they decide, they will feel whole again. Their partners and friends, however, know this isn’t the solution and seek to help them realize there’s nothing broken about them before it’s too late. Word Count: 12000 Prompt: Mirror Theme: None Language: English Fandom: Sanders Sides. Characters: Logan, Patton, Roman, Virgil, Nate, Remy, Emile, Seth, Toby, Janus, Remus, Unnamed Orange Side, Romulus, Dragon Witch Genre: Friendship, Hurt/ Comfort CW: Romance, Sexual content, Violence

He Is Mild And He Is Meek by @entity9silvergen (Ao3, FFN)

Post, Direct link (Ao3) Summary: He is mild and he is meek, he is Momo and he is what I seek. Suki always wanted three things in life. One was to become a professional soccer player. The second was to live in a cute apartment filled with succulents. The third was to get a cat. Momo probably wasn’t anyone’s first pick as a pet but Suki was determined to get this cat to love her as much as she loved him. If only he’d accept he had a home now. Word Count: 6500 Prompt: Non-romantic Relationships Language: English Fandom: Avatar the Last Airbender. Characters: Suki, Momo, Sokka, Aang Genre: Friendship, Hurt/ Comfort CW: Mention of sex, non-excessive swearing

sick of all those love songs (sing to me about my friend on the moon). by nwhrs

Post, Direct link (Ao3) Summary: Johnny has always tried to follow the game, Ten has always stood out like a sore thumb, Chenle has always been quite vocal about himself, and Jisung really has absolutely no idea just what is going on (or does he?). And this is just a little part of their story. Word Count: 16413 Prompt: Non-romantic Relationships Theme: Choosing to be Yourself Language: English Fandom: NCT // Park Jisung, Zhong Chen Le, Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten, Suh Youngho | Johnny Genre: Slice of Life CW: Romance, Discussions of romance & amatonormativity

he loves you (he loves you not) by @ternaryflower53

Summary:   "Who's your companion?" the man asks.   "This is Jango," he says, not adding his last name. They have a false one, a name Jango sometimes uses in undercover missions when he doesn’t  want to risk being recognized as the Mand’alor’s son, but better if they can avoid using it. "He's my husband."   The man frowns down at his datapad, then looks up to study Jango. "I wasn't expecting you to come with a partner, Master Jedi."   or, jangobi fake dating au, but make it aromantic. Word Count: 6270 Prompt: Non-romantic Relationships Language: English Fandom: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy (Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jango Fett) Genre: Fanfic CW: Romance, fake/pretend relationship, request to be in a romantic relationship that gets shut down

[aromagni]

December 2019 Carnival of Aros

(I don’t think the call for submissions for this month has been posted on tumblr since it is being hosted on wordpress, but I wanted to make a post linking to it to help spread the word) Here’s the Official Call for Submissions; The topic is “Love” (Prompts copied from source): Submissions do not need to be in response to any particular prompt, but here are some prompts for people who want a little inspiration:

you may react to the misconception that ‘aromantic people cannot feel love’

you may comment on the conflation of romance with love from an aro perspective

 how does you position under the aro umbrella (quoiromantic/greyromantic/aromantic/etc.) affect the way you experience love?

are there any specifically ‘aro’ forms of love?

does your position under the aro umbrella affect the way you react to generalized comments about love, such as ‘the world needs more love’ even when those comments are not specifically pointing to romance?”

[raavenb2619]

Some Thoughts on Love

This is a submission for the December 2019 Carnival of Aros, on the topic of "Love". This post has been crossposted to Wordpress.

My relationship with love is deeply influenced by my asexuality and aromanticism, resulting in a complicated, confusing, contradictory mess. It means both a lot and a little to me; I like and dislike considering my thoughts, feelings, and experiences to be love; and outside of aspec spaces I'm rarely included in conversations about love that allow me to fully express myself. Where do I even begin? 

Society often treats "love" as interchangeable with "sex/romance", and from that point of view, everything's simple: I don't feel love. However, in aspec spaces, we often see a distinction between these concepts, which adds a bit of complexity. We can talk about multiple types of love, like sexual love, romantic love, platonic love, familial love, and more, and then make a checklist of which ones we feel, right? Except, putting feelings into discrete boxes doesn't always work, and it's not always clear that a particular feeling should even go into a box labelled "____ love". In fact, I often go back and forth and contradict myself over whether something "is" or "does" or "should" or "can" count as "love". 

I've felt platonic and familial love before, but those moments when my subconscious decides with utmost conviction yes, this is love; yes, I deeply love you right now are few and far between. Outside of those moments, I don't concern myself with the question is this love?; I'd much rather use other words to describe my feelings of care and affection towards people. 

But at the same time, I like the particular way in which it's slowly becoming socially acceptable to say "I love you" to friends, because it allows me to influence how society thinks about love. I like it because it's a way to demonstrate care and affection towards friends without suggesting that the recipient is tantamount to a romantic partner without the romance. I like being able to tell my friends that I love them and have it be understood that my love is not a totality, that it's not in pursuit of a partnership. My love has the space to be casual, it doesn't have to be intensely deep, and I think that's great. 

When it's understood to be platonic, I like being on the receiving end of "I love you" from close friends. However, I have difficulty saying "I love you", and I don't really know why. It might have to do with the relationship between me, society, being aroace, partnerships, and love; I want to be able to love my friends in the way that feels most natural to me without being locked into a partnership, but despite the slow shift in meaning and usage, the phrase "I love you" might be too entrenched in the idea of monogamous sexual/romantic partnerships for me to comfortably use it. My difficulty might have to do with how, even when a close family member says "I love you", I don't always think of responding with "I love you, too"; I've gotten a bit better at saying it, but only after a lot of conscious effort to respond "properly", and I tend to be the second person to say it, not the first. My difficulty might have to do with something else entirely, or it might be a combination of those and other things. The asymmetry in saying or hearing "I love you" definitely adds some confusion and complication to my relationship with love, but it's mostly isolated to that one phrase. 

Regardless of whether it's easy for me to tell them or not, the friends and family that make up the people that I love matter quite a lot to me. So when people try to exclude me from the idea of "love", it hurts because they're delegitimizing my feelings. They're saying that they don't "count", likely with the unstated implication that my feelings are "less powerful/important", simply because my feelings don't fit into the conventional narrative of what love should be and look like. It hurts because, while not everyone shares this sentiment with me, my potential to love and the fact that I do sometimes love is meaningful to me on a very personal level. 

But at the same time, that ability to call my feelings "love", my connection to love, is only important on that personal level. In other contexts, it feels like my love exists on the same level of not-super-important as most other things about me, instead of being placed high upon a pedestal. When someone suggests that love is in some way a core component of being human, I'll lean as far as I can into how my asexuality and aromanticism disconnect me from love to try to get them to stop their dehumanization, to realize that their rhetoric and way of thinking hurts real people. I don't consider it voidpunk per se, since the focus isn't about rejecting my own humanity; rather, it's just a peculiar instinct to put myself directly in harms way in the hopes that doing so will stop the harm altogether. And when people insist that I can still feel platonic love, when they deny me my agency to opt out of the idea of love, I disavow any platonic or familial love to lean even farther into my disconnection from love. At the end of the day, I wouldn't exactly call myself a loveless aro, but I so readily group myself with them when they face dehumanization that I wouldn't really call myself the opposite of "loveless", either. 

[theaceandaroadvocacyproject]

We would like to invite any and all people who identify on the aromantic spectrum, asexual spectrum, or both to write a blog post on the topic, “The Relationship Between the Aro and Ace Communities.” This will be a joint blogging event between the Carnival of Aros and the Carnival of Aces, and all posts are due by the end of February. Please read on to learn more.

What is the Carnival of Aces?

The “Carnival of Aces” has been around since 2011. For those who don’t know, this is a monthly event where different bloggers come together to all post about a single topic. Each month, a new blog hosts the carnival, or in other words, they pick the topic, post a call for submissions, and post a round-up of all the different posts published on the topic during the month. To read more about the Carnival of Aces and read past carnivals, click here.

What is the Carnival of Aros?

This is the first month of the Carnival of Aros. The goal is for this to become a sibling event to the Carnival of Aces that seeks to encourage blogging on aromanticism. As this is just the first month, specific details on how the Carnival of Aros will proceed are still being worked out. Please read here for more information on the Carnival of Aros and what you can do to support it.

Why did we choose this topic?

The aro and ace communities are inextricably linked by their shared history and by the fact that many people identify as both aro and ace. Recently, however, the aro community has begun building its own separate structure, and there have been resulting growing pains in both communities.

We hope that by having an open and constructive discussion on the relationship between our communities, we can learn new ways to better support each other.

Prompts

The following are meant to give you ideas for what you can write about, but posts are not limited to these prompts! The topic is meant to be broad, so feel free to write about whatever you are inspired to write about. Additionally, other mediums (such as vlogging) are always welcome!

The similarities and differences between aro and ace communities or identities

The history of aro and ace communities and terminology

Experiences relating to being either aro or ace, but not both

Experiences relating to being both aro and ace

How you feel about the split attraction model (that is, the separation of romantic and sexual attraction)

What it means to be an ally to aros as an ace person, or vice versa

Your hopes on the future of the relationship between the two communities

The disparity of resources and in-person communities between the aro and ace communities, and what we can do about it

How the general public confuses and conflates aromanticism and asexuality

Thoughts on the start of the Carnival of Aros

The relationship between the aro or ace community and another LGBTQ+ community

Who can submit?

Anyone who identifies on the asexual spectrum, the aromantic spectrum, or both. We would like to specifically welcome aros who are not also ace to post as well.

How to submit:

Option one: Post your submission to your own blog and send us the link as a comment on our Wordpress blog or by email to advocacy@taaap.org.

Option two: If you would like to remain anonymous or you do not have your own blog, we will host guest submissions on our blog if you email us at advocacy@taaap.org.

All posts must be submitted by the end of the day on February 28th in order to be included in the round-up post for the month, which will be posted on March 1st.

[babyawacs]

@law .@law @harvard_law @fisa @bbc_whys @france24 .@sun @fisa @snowden @haaretzcom .@law @law @Harvard_Law it is p a v e d with scums doingwhattheywant to civillians imagi ne things during their crimes but no handcuffs needed whee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey but the charging of intelcoma rapes so superdooper batshitnuts tha t aeh yomama was sonuts shewanted tobe secretary of europe and now we must madhouse you nut too then for charging intelcoma rapes ///// jail cri minal lawyerspin suggestive shortened deadbeatargumentation lawyerspin as ifiitsnot allalong undercontrol by these criminal cockroaches andmonsters themmmmmm empowered todowhat ///// this is 21year s deed typed intelcrimes itis quelled by the system like oooh the theme was so glow color ooooh that theme idragge d a pig out of a square oooooh that theme i scratched a wh eel of iaa2008 them quelled it and eachoftheir crimes pe gged on the raped civillian itis not word vs word itis them committing crimes onthe civillian itis whatdid thei r criminal intels do thatthecase a n d themother and w h o e l s e stay daytime itis what them effort unpunished re petition dancing aroudntheir realmseparation while implying permissions or hideous int ent itis criminal a fraudsystem even ai sorting is shitba ll by statistics it might be l i k e this or might be l i k e that until a very serious thing shows muffin or chiuaua or bowlingball ///lawyers each cherrypicked reframed ite m they rediscover is a german govt germansystem coverup quell they nut the case for charging this allthey did allalo ng was despite committing these crimes //// how dothe germans play the victim twist allthey want whenthey openrange t errorise harm rpae thecase psychoshitflies fools would find it as make nervous breakdown others would wonder safe aro und to fthem life goes on tothem while that guy harmed raped

@law .@law @harvard_law @fisa @bbc_whys @france24 .@sun @fisa @snowden @haaretzcom .@law @law @Harvard_Law it is p a v e d with scums doingwhattheywant to civillians imagi ne things during their crimes but no handcuffs needed whee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey but the charging of intelcoma rapes so superdooper batshitnuts tha t aeh yomama was sonuts shewanted tobe secretary of europe and now we must madhouse you nut too then for charging intelcoma rapes ///// jail cri minal lawyerspin suggestive shortened deadbeatargumentation lawyerspin as ifiitsnot allalong undercontrol by these criminal cockroaches andmonsters themmmmmm empowered todowhat ///// this is 21year s deed typed intelcrimes itis quelled by the system like oooh the theme was so glow color ooooh that theme idragge d a pig out of a square oooooh that theme i scratched a wh eel of iaa2008 them quelled it and eachoftheir crimes pe gged on the raped civillian itis not word vs word itis them committing crimes onthe civillian itis whatdid thei r criminal intels do thatthecase a n d themother and w h o e l s e stay daytime itis what them effort unpunished re petition dancing aroudntheir realmseparation while implying permissions or hideous int ent itis criminal a fraudsystem even ai sorting is shitba ll by statistics it might be l i k e this or might be l i k e that until a very serious thing shows muffin or chiuaua or bowlingball ///lawyers each cherrypicked reframed ite m they rediscover is a german govt germansystem coverup quell they nut the case for charging this allthey did allalo ng was despite committing these crimes //// how dothe germans play the victim twist allthey want whenthey openrange t errorise harm rpae thecase psychoshitflies fools would find it as make nervous breakdown others would wonder safe aro und to fthem life goes on tothem while that guy harmed raped

@law .@law @harvard_law @fisa @bbc_whys @france24 .@sun @fisa @snowden @haaretzcom .@law @law @Harvard_Law itispavedwith scums doingwhattheywant to civilliansimagine things during their crimesbut no handcuffs neededwheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeybut the charging of intelcoma rapes so superdooper batshitnutsthat aehyomama was sonuts shewanted tobe secretary of europe and now we must madhouse you nut too…

[violetemerald]

Carnival of Aros – November 2020 Call for Submissions: “Commitment”

The Carnival of Aros is a month-long recurring blogging festival where bloggers on different platforms all write (or vlog, or create content) on a specific theme. Submissions are typically posted on everyone’s own blog (or whatever platform they use, such as YouTube). Different bloggers typically host the carnival each month. For more information about the Carnival of Aros, please look here! And don’t be afraid to host the carnival yourself sometime soon. The only rules are that a) submissions are tied back to aromanticism in some way, and b) the theme inspires your submission in some way.

Feel free to ask me questions if you have any on WordPress in comments, in a reblog, in a tumblr message or Ask, or at my email address luvtheheaven5@gmail.com! This entire post has been cross-posted to WordPress.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For November 2020, the theme I chose is “Commitment”. The prompts below are meant to help give you ideas of various directions you could take your submissions, but the topic is meant to be broad so anything that the word inspires, even if it has nothing to do with any of the prompts below, is welcome!

The dictionary of “commitment” that I was imagining would be most likely to be focused on:

n. The state of being emotionally or intellectually devoted, as to a belief, a course of action, or another person.

There are also other common definitions, such as:

n. A pledge or obligation, as to follow a certain course of action.

There are other definitions of the word, especially if you expand to the verb “commit”, such as “committing a crime”, which you are welcome to explore if you’re interested. However, the prompts I have below are mostly based on the first two definitions I just listed up above.

Prompts:

How do you, as a person who is aromantic or on the aromantic spectrum, feel about committed partnership or other kinds of commitments in interpersonal relationships? Do you have friendships that contain commitment? Do you make a conscious choice to have uncommitted dynamics, and prefer a lack of commitment?

Do you want more or less commitment in your life than you currently have?

Do you commit ideologically to anything? Do you commit to certain goals? Do you commit to any actions/behaviors?

If you are fluent in one or more languages that aren’t English, does that language/do those languages have different connotations around these ideas, or varied words that would reflect the ideas which we consider wrapped up in “commitment” in English?

Does commitment to a person evoke a sense of safety/security/comfort for you, or perhaps does it evoke a sense of being stifled/stuck/trapped? Are there other ways commitment feels that are quite different, like confusing/nonsensical?

Does a lack of commitment (of any kind) in your life, hypothetically or practically in the present, feel like “freedom”? Or what does it feel like?

If you’ve ever been interested in non-traditional relationship structures, such as friends-with-benefits (FWBs), queerplatonic relationships (QPRs), polyamorous or polyaffectionate dynamics, relationship anarchy, etc – how does or doesn’t “commitment” factor into your plans?

What do you think of the commitment aspect of queenieofaces’ “Five Factor Model of Relationships”? Do you consider any other aspects of the model relevant to the theme of commitment as well? Is there another model of relationships you find useful that might have a commitment component, either in name or in practice?

Are there things you might like to do that might be related to the aro community or aro activism, but which feel like “too much commitment” so you are not pursuing them? Or are there things you definitely don’t want to do and one of the reasons you know you don’t have interest in that is because of the commitment that would be involved? (I’m even thinking things like becoming a parent.)

Are there any things in your life which you realize now are actually commitments, but you never framed them as commitments before?

Are there prejudices against non-partnering aros and/or people of all orientations who choose to remain single that have to do with societal beliefs about commitment, and if so is there something to explore there, such as myths and misconceptions?

Hopefully some of these prompts help inspire you, but feel free to take the carnival topic into any direction you’d like!

The deadline for submissions is the end of the day Monday, November 30th. I will wait to post the round-up post till around 9:00 PM EST on Tuesday December 1st, and if you submit anything later that week, I can edit the post to also include it, but ideally you’ll get your posts in while it’s still November.

Good luck!

Please submit by posting a comment below to this WordPress post, emailing me at luvtheheaven5@gmail.com, or feel free to direct message luvtheheaven on twitter, luvtheheaven on tumblr, or luvtheheaven#8738 on Discord. I’m around at all these platforms. Within 24 hours of you sharing your submission, you should get a confirmation from me that I’ve received it. If you haven’t, feel free to reach out an additional time.

Good luck with your submissions! And like I said above, feel free to ask if you have any questions.

[graces-of-luck]

Well-being and Amatonormativity: Round-up (Carnival of Aros, August 2021)

Word count: 362 Reading time: Approximately 2 minutes This does not include the individual submissions.

For this month’s Carnival of Aros, the theme was on Well-being and Amatonormativity. The call for submissions can be found here. Participants touched on a range of different aspects of this with some writing about the adverse consequences of amatonormativity on well-being and others writing about how they handle the effects of amatonormativity. I hope the community can find some comfort in these relatable experiences and perhaps find some inspiration. Thank you to everyone who participated!

You can find the list of submissions below.

Michelle at Quiet ‘n’ Queer wrote about the difficulty of being yourself in the face of amatonormativity and having to hide who you are.

Mike examined the effect of continuously being asked if he’s lonely on himself and how the idea that single people are lonely impacts his ability to seek out support.

thinking-aromanticism addressed how not everyone, including alloromantic, buys into amatonormative norms and how it can be comforting to realize this. It asks, “Do allos really think that?” Potentially not!

Frawley wrote about the harmful effects of amatonormativity on their mental health before they realized they were aro and about their process of healing from that after embracing their aro identity.

L. E. Jeffreys (1, 2, 3) expressed how amatonormativity shows up in friendship and life through a series of touching poems.

CharCharChar demonstrated how they deal with amatonormativity by writing drabbles that that explore non-amatonormative relationships.

The Song System examined how the Aromantic Manifesto prompted her to think about the relationship between amatonormativity and a fear of undesirability (leading to the coining of a new term!) as well as how we can harness the power of language to create change.

Elin wrote about her experience of learning about aromanticism and the ubiquity of amatonormativity, especially in music, which she combats by giving new meanings to and rewriting songs about romance.

Artemis addressed how learning about amatonormativity helped her embrace and process her aromanticism by “flipping the script” and giving her something to challenge.

gracesofluckexpressed her difficulties of living in an amatonormative society and how participating in the aro community has helped eir confront and be resilient in the face of amatonormativity.

Cross-posted on WordPress.

[arowrimo]

AroWriMo Week 4 Roundup

It’s the end of the last week of AroWriMo, and time to put all the great works in one place. Read through the other submissions, and support the writers where you enjoy their content!

Play/Script

Leaving: A (very) Unfinished Stage Play by charcharcharace (blogspot)

Post, direct link (blogspot) Summary: A fractured personal narrative on entering and leaving an unhealthy relationship and the pain of being aromantic without that knowledge. Word Count: 1200 Theme: Humanity Language: English Genre: Personal CW: Depression, manipulation, unhealthy romantic relationship, processing self-blame

Novels/Novellas

Oh, the truth shall set you free by @amanita-cynth

Summary: “I know exactly four things about Alway.” She said wryly. “She’s 23, a genius, she keeps at least three feet between her and other people at all times, and she can root out the truth like nobody else.” Of course, coming from another profiler, such an assessment carried a lot of weight. Eden Alway, the newest member of an FBI profiling unit, is odd even by their standards. But as they begin to pry more into her life and struggle with some of what they find, her past is racing to catch up with her and drag them into the storm that was her life. Featuring misunderstandings, odd behaviour, the constant problems of amatonormativity, and a rapidly escalating series of bizarre problems that they are in no way qualified for but definitely isn’t magic. Word Count: 11000 Prompt: Non-romantic Relationships, Self-reliance Theme: Fantasy Language: English Genre: Crime, portal fantasy CW: Romance, Violence, Gore, amatonormativity, religious imagery, mild body horror later on, currently a WIP

Lyrics

Embers by @clad-in-sunshine​ (Wordpress, Twitter)

Post, Direct link (tumblr), Direct link (wordpress) Summary: I’m terrible at picking titles. But I have been enjoying writing songs, and this is one I wrote for AroWriMo and the Valentines theme of ‘Love, Romance and Friendship’ at my local folk club. The middle part is entirely uninteresting to me, so this is more about love and friendship than anything else, and the various forms that can take. The tune is called 'Midnight on The Water'. Word Count: 479 Prompt: Non-romantic Relationships, Self-reliance Language: English Genre: Singer/songwriter, Folk

Comics/Zine

My Aro Heart: A Zine by charcharcharace (blogspot)

Post, Direct link (blogspot) Summary:    A short zine about loving the aro community. Word Count: 50 Language: English Genre: Zine CW: Love (non-romantic)

Flash Fiction

Self-Reliance by 27twinsister (Ao3)

Post, direct link (Ao3) Summary: Tsubasa likes to be alone. The note contains my headcanons for Tsubasa and what the words mean.  Word Count: 161 Prompt: Self-reliance Language: English Fandom: Mahou Sentai Magiranger            Genre: Character study CW: None

Non-Romantic Relationships by 27twinsister (Ao3)

Post, Direct link (Ao3) Summary:  Jiro doesn’t know if his relationship with Yuki is romantic. But it’s special to him. The note contains my headcanons for Jiro and what the words mean  Word Count: 209 Prompt: Non-Romantic Relationships Language: English Fandom: Dogengers Genre: Character study CW: Romance mention

Non-fiction

Relationship Anarchy and Hugs by charcharcharace (blogspot)

Post, Direct link (blogspot) Summary: Applying relationship anarchy to family relationships and hugs. Word Count: 522 Prompt: Non-romantic Relationships Theme: Defying Expectations Language: English Genre: Non-Fiction CW: consent issues, boundary breaking

Thursday Thoughts: AroWriMo Week 4: Non-Romantic Relationships & Self-Reliance by @sophieakatz

Post, Direct link (tumblr) Word Count: Prompt: Non-romantic Relationships, Self-reliance Language: English Genre: Non-fiction CW: Romance mention

Poetry

Little Boxes by anon*

Post, Direct link (Google docs) Word Count: 456 Prompt: Freedom Theme: Choosing to be Yourself Language: English Genre: Poem/non-fiction

To My Dear and Loving... by @writingthingsilike​

Post, Direct link (tumblr) Summary: A poem about being aromantic but still wanting a life partner Word Count: 165 Prompt: Non-romantic Relationships Theme: Choosing to be Yourself Language: English Genre: Non-fiction CW: None

AroAce by Catolica (Ao3)

Post, Direct link (Ao3) Word Count: 254 Language: English CW: Choose not to use warnings

Care, uncoupled by @graces-of-luck​

Post, Direct link (tumblr) Word Count: 149 Prompt: Non-romantic Relationships Theme: Humanity Language: English Genre: Free Verse CW: Romance

Human = ( X - Y ) / Z by charcharcharace (blogspot)

Post, Direct link (blogspot) Summary: A poem about human essentialism Word Count: 129 Theme: Humanity Language: English Genre: Poetry CW: Mentions of essentialism and touches on dehumanizing ideas

Short Stories

My Valentine by @bimboztown on twitter

Post, Direct link (Google docs) Word Count: 305 Category: Short Stories Theme: Choosing to be Yourself Language: English Genre: Coming of Age CW: Suicide attempt mention

Lights, Camera, Aro! by charcharcharace (blogspot)

Post, Direct link (blogspot) Summary: An aromantic actress is conflicted over how to engage with a romantically coded improv challenge. Word Count: 1885 Theme: Choosing to be Yourself Language: English Genre: Literary CW: a ghost, pressure.

He Is Mild And He Is Meek by @entity9silvergen (Ao3, FFN)

Post, Direct link (Ao3) Summary: He is mild and he is meek, he is Momo and he is what I seek. Suki always wanted three things in life. One was to become a professional soccer player. The second was to live in a cute apartment filled with succulents. The third was to get a cat. Momo probably wasn’t anyone’s first pick as a pet but Suki was determined to get this cat to love her as much as she loved him. If only he’d accept he had a home now. Word Count: 6500 Prompt: Non-romantic Relationships Language: English Fandom: Avatar the Last Airbender. Characters: Suki, Momo, Sokka, Aang Genre: Friendship, Hurt/ Comfort CW: Mention of sex, non-excessive swearing

sick of all those love songs (sing to me about my friend on the moon). by nwhrs

Post, Direct link (Ao3) Summary: Johnny has always tried to follow the game, Ten has always stood out like a sore thumb, Chenle has always been quite vocal about himself, and Jisung really has absolutely no idea just what is going on (or does he?). And this is just a little part of their story. Word Count: 16413 Prompt: Non-romantic Relationships Theme: Choosing to be Yourself Language: English Fandom: NCT // Park Jisung, Zhong Chen Le, Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten, Suh Youngho | Johnny Genre: Slice of Life CW: Romance, Discussions of romance & amatonormativity

he loves you (he loves you not) by @ternaryflower53

Summary:    "Who's your companion?" the man asks.    "This is Jango," he says, not adding his last name. They have a false  one, a name Jango sometimes uses in undercover missions when he doesn’t  want to risk being recognized as the Mand’alor’s son, but better if they can avoid using it. "He's my husband."    The man frowns down at his datapad, then looks up to study Jango. "I wasn't expecting you to come with a partner, Master Jedi."    or, jangobi fake dating au, but make it aromantic. Word Count: 6270 Prompt: Non-romantic Relationships Language: English Fandom: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy (Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jango Fett) Genre: Fanfic CW: Romance, fake/pretend relationship, request to be in a romantic relationship that gets shut down

[raavenb2619]

Where Does Aromanticism Fit?

This is a submission for the November 2019 Carnival of Aros, on the topic of "Aro Community Wishlists". This post has been crossposted to Wordpress.

I think about aromanticism a lot. I think about how being aromantic influences my behavior, how it informs my perspectives on media, how it affects where I fit in the world. The question I don't think about as often is where aromanticism fits in the world, especially when it comes to where other people place it (or more specifically, where they don't). Here are two cases where the answer left me wishing for something better, and two possible solutions. 

The APA

The American Psychological Association's style guide is great. I recently found out that the APA endorses using singular they, which was super exciting because it gives singular they more legitimacy and lets me point to an established authority when someone says that singular they isn't proper English. But when I looked more into their style guide, I came across a familiar disappointment: comprehensive guidelines on gender and sexual orientation in writing, but no dedicated page for aromanticism or romantic orientation. 

Digging a little deeper, the style guide says: 

Sexual orientation is a part of individual identity that includes “a person’s sexual and emotional attraction to another person and the behavior and/or social affiliation that may result from this attraction” (APA, 2015a, p. 862) ... Some examples of sexual orientation are lesbian, gay, heterosexual, straight, asexual, bisexual, queer, polysexual, and pansexual (also called multisexual and omnisexual).

It's great to see so many different identities acknowledged, but what about aromanticism? Should it be mentioned here? My gut reaction is to say no, because aromanticism is a romantic orientation and it could be confusing or misleading to list it on a page about sexual orientation. (That is, unless you have a section that does some aromanticism 101 and provides enough context, but in that case, why not make a whole separate page?) 

On the other hand, aromanticism is an orientation, so if the passage was amended to "Some examples of orientation are...", I think most people would say aromanticism belongs in that list. It's also worth considering that most people use "sexual orientation" to mean "orientation" in a broader sense, and that some aros see their aromanticism as their primary label and/or see aromantic as their sexual orientation. Finally, while "emotional attraction" isn't a particularly common phrase, it could be interpreted to mean "romantic attraction", which would be grounds for including aromanticism on a page about sexual orientation. 

Admittedly, whether aromanticism is mentioned or not in the APA style guide is a fairly low-stakes issue in the grand scheme of things. The style guide can be released in a new edition that mentions us the way we want, and the APA already puts a big emphasis on bias free language. But at the same time, how we think and talk about where aromanticism fits in this example can help inform our opinion when it comes to more impactful writing. 

The Equality Act

The Equality Act is a piece of currently pending U.S. legislation "[to] prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation, and for other purposes." Anti-discrimination legislation like this is important, and it would wonderful if this was made into law, but its wording leaves a lot to be desired. See, the Equality Act says that "'[the] term 'sexual orientation' means homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality." (Sec. 1101(a)(5), Definitions and Rules). In addition to erasing a number of identities, that definition is quite a bit narrower than you might expect for something that's supposed to completely prohibit discrimination. 

To reiterate, I'd love to see this turned into a law, and this wording probably does protect against discrimination on the basis of being aromantic. But while the argument that such discrimination would still be legal because the text doesn't explicitly mention romantic orientation or aromanticism (or even emotional attraction like the APA does) feels flimsy, I don't know for certain what would happen if someone used such an argument in court. It would be nice to have a stronger guarantee that legislation that's been billed as "[providing] consistent and explicit non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people across key areas of life" would consistently and explicitly provide those protections to everyone, aros included, or at the very least have some acknowledgement that the legislation has some potential holes. If we're drafting legislation that moves people from the legal gray area of maybe-having-rights to definitely-having-rights, we don't want to inadvertently leave anyone behind. 

And if you zoom out and look at the question of what terms like LGBTQ and queer encompass, you'll find lots of discussions and definitions having to do with gender identity and sexual orientation, but very rarely romantic orientation or orientation in a broader sense. Combine that with how lots of organizations have almost no resources on aromanticism, and you end up with this weird mixture of erasure and othering from the things that should be on your side, that should be able to at least acknowledge your existence. 

Solutions and a Wishlist

How can we stop aromanticism from being left out from these and other places? I see two options. We can shift the language other people use from "sexual orientation" to just "orientation", or we can start talking about aromanticism as a sexual orientation. I think the best solution is to talk more generally about orientation instead of specifically sexual orientation, in no small part because my gut says that asking for aromanticism to be folded in as another sexual orientation would be a mistake. But honestly? I think that the latter would be easier to accomplish than the former, especially on a wide scale, because we can change how we talk about aromanticism, but we can't force other people to change how they talk about orientations. 

At the end of the day, there are two things on my wishlist. First, I'd love to see some discussion in the community about what to do about all this. I know that I'd rather have people talk about orientation in more general terms than have people talk about aromanticism as a sexual orientation, but I'd like to hear what other people think. It's also entirely possible that there's one or more solutions that I've missed. Secondly, for anyone who wants to be a good ally to aromantics? Contact us. Listen to us. Raise our voices. Make resources with us. Work with us on the issues we care about. We're as real and important as any other identity, and we deserve to be mentioned.