#aromantic week

[rainbowpiss34]

i got a manicure for the first time every yesterday :33

[cozylittleartblog]

lilly doodles just in time for the last day of aromantic awareness week

(+ asexual is separate from aromantic, but i wanted to draw that flag too 💚💜🖤🤍)

[monarch-of-jack]

A reminder that this is a very special Aro week this year!

Because our lovely Aro flag is turning 10 years old!

Let this year also be a reminder of how far we've come as a community!

When I was a baby AroAce out in the early 2000s, Aromanticism was virtually unknown. It was attributed to misogyny, misandry or being anti-social. But I've seen you guys prove it for almost two decades now, that Aromantics are some of the most wonderful, inclusive and welcoming people out there. And true revolutionaries that redefine what relationships and love and family truly means in this world.

From the loveless Aros to the high love Aros. From the Queerplatonic Aros to the Aplatonic Aros. The AlloAros to the AroAces. The Demiro, Greyro, Lithro, Frayro, Recipro, Quoiro, Aegoro, Aroflux and all the other Arospecs under the umbrella. Whether you are starting to be recognized or still fighting to be visible.

We are all valid, and we have all come so far! So celebrate yourselves and your community this year! We're all amazing!

I can't wait to see how far the next decade will take us~

[itsguysnightitsironic]

Kith and kin.

Sometimes peace doesn't mean a lover's embrace, it means, well, peace.

Love loses! Happy aromantic week!! To me, to you and the whole cast of Avantris characters that have not shown any sign of romantic attraction, adore you.

EDIT: Since Richie asked for Art notes, here they are:

thanks for coming to my aro-talk.

[yagikidd57]

[itsnicsalad]

i hope she has a great week 💚🤍🖤

[seeingteacupsindragons]

Aro Week 2024: Let's Talk About the Limits of Representation

A lot of the discussion around writing marginalized identities comes down to one thing: representation. Representation in the books versus the authors, what the representation looks like, the variety of representation, what representation is present and allowed, what diversity is there and what isn’t.

For aro week, I want to talk about how limited that is for aro (and ace) people. Because the thing about representation is that to be exist beyond Word of God, it’s got to be discussed in the text. And that means romance (or sex, for ace people, but while I’m ace, and most of this is going to cross-apply, this post is for aro week so this is just a global note) has to be discussed in the text.

But a lot of time what I want as an aro person is to just not have to think about it. I think in general I’ve seen similar sentiments expressed across marginalized groups: we always have to think about our differences, and it’s a mental load and burden that other people don’t have to deal with. And as an aro writer and reader, a lot of the time what I want, and what most allows me to lay down that burden is to just not have romance in the damn thing. It’s hard to figure out how to write sometimes, it’s something I have to mentally keep in mind while I read.

While I go through life in general, I often just…forget it’s a thing. I forget when Valentine’s Day is often. I forget that people are normally dating. I forget people want to discuss with their romantic partners when making plans with friends. I forget they want to go everywhere as a group. I forget things look like dates. My life is one in which romance is rarely a factor unless imposed on it by outside forces. It’s not relevant.

But if I write that for characters, or for readers, a place where romance is not just imposed on their mind, the characters aren’t actually…aro. A story in which romance, romantic attraction, or interest in such things never comes up is one in which no character is canonically disinterested in or not in possession of such thing. It’s one which has no moments of obvious recognition of the aro experience or joyous bursts.

It’s a story in which, “Eh, they could or couldn’t be attracted. It never came up, so anything is valid because nothing is canon.”

The definition of being aro might lie in not experiencing romantic attraction. And sure, the character might not. But this is fiction. Not reality. And in reality, aro people’s experiences are more than the dictionary. People have relationships to romance and attraction and interactions with the concept are often recognizable and definitional. No real person can live without interacting with romance and attraction, and those relationships to it are as definitional and important to being aro or being gay or being straight or bi or whatever as the dictionary definition is.

Characters don’t have to interact with it. I’ve said romance isn’t relevant to my life as an aro person much of the time. If romance isn’t relevant to a character’s story—well, lots of things aren’t relevant to stories we assume are happening, like…most bathroom trips, or meals, or menstruation. A character isn’t representing an eating disorder because they’re never shown eating: it’s more complicated than that.

Being aro is more complicated than that.

A story in which character relationships wholly rely on and depend on something other than romance, a story where character relationships are undefinable and not attempted to be defined but only described and developed, a story in which characters and societies and people exist outside the omnipresent framework of romance inherently comes from a place of aroness and the aro experience. It speaks most to that place.

Most people who experience romantic attraction are often thinking about it. A story without such things is one which is lacking something they’re looking for and expecting, not a story where everything proceeds as usual without being interrupted by Oh, Yeah, That.

So, then, if alloromantic people will notice something is Different and aro people might seek it out, this way of writing around romance because it’s not relevant to the story the way it is not relevant to my life needs to be framed in the metatext so people, aro and alloro alike, know what to expect and what they’re getting into.

But when all talk about marginalized stories comes down to “What Types of Characters Are Here?” and “What Culture Is This World Based On?” there’s this empty space to explain stories like mine.

There’s so many things to the aro experience that don’t revolve around rejecting romance. But if you ever look for an aro story about something else, how can you even find it? It’s so difficult to talk about an aro story that isn’t Representative and exists in a way you don’t even have to think about it and there are no smooth bumps to remind you of yourself so you can immerse into it that…I think people forget stories like that can even exist.

[artsymeeshee]

Happy Aromantic Week!! 💚🤍🖤

[saturnniidae]

Hi since it's aro-spec week I'd like to just highlight one of my absolute favorite things about httyd, from the viewpoint of an aromantic:

The importance it puts on platonic relationships.

The whole franchise is of course, centered around Hiccup and Toothless' bond. They're friendship is from the beginning built on unconditional trust. They care for each other so much. They are best friends, hey mean everything to each other and have a bond nothing else (even romantic relationships) could ever rival.

(I could say so much more about them honestly but it's all probably been said before by someone better at articulating their thoughts so whatever)

Another aspect I love is while there are romantic relationships and plots, they're not shoved in the audience's faces. Other than certain episodes dedicated to Hiccstrid's development, it's mostly just, there. Neither the story nor the characters' lives revolve around it and it's honestly a bit refreshing.

Hiccup and Astrid very clearly value they're friendship. In the episode they got together, what Hiccup said to her very clearly implied how important to him she is, and he'd be fine even if they weren't romantic partners, as long as they can still be with each other.

And that's so special to me.

Like, it is not something you often see in media. And even when they do start dating, they primarily put their friendship first—and not just with each other, like there's a whole rtte episode basically dedicated to why they need to value their friendships just as much as they value each other.

And of course, the friendship between the dragon riders as a whole. As much as they fight, and despite their actions towards Hiccup in the past, they all clearly care for each other immensely and unconditionally. It's so unfortunate that they're just side characters in the movies, I really wish they're friendships got more of a spotlight but at least we have Rob and Rtte.

(Imo it does a very good job making these characters relatable whether you feel romantic attraction or not.)

[3amsnek]

more aro week dragon! he’s very enthusiastic about his job <3 (flags: aromantic, demiromantic, cupioromantic, aroace, greyromantic)

click for better quality

reblogs >> likes! please don’t like if you don’t rb

[echo-does-art]

Who needs an Allosaurus when you could have an Arosaurus? :)

[voidxfantasy]

tis aro week

[thewingedgoat]

I take way too much pride in being aro but happy Aro week

[acearoriz]

Happy aromantic week!!!

Remember: there’s no need to create a monstrosity named Baron whose from The Baronies, just tell your friends it’s not your thing

[rainbowpiss34]

an aroace guy with his obligatory feline daughter ☝️

[shopkeeps]

happy aro week!!!