#asexual symbol

[merely-a-caricature]

Cake, yet another ace symbol

There are many wonderful ace symbols, but none are quite as sweet as this baked this good!

What is the meaning behind this delectable symbol of ours?

Cake emerged as an inside joke for asexuals because usually people would think “sex > cake”, but aces would think the opposite, so “cake > sex”(unless you don’t like cake, I guess). Hence the saying, “I’d rather eat cake,”.

Historically, in the ace community, cake was a symbol of welcome. People would join the community, and others would “offer” a picture of a cake to congratulate let them or give comfort. A cake emoji would also be posted if the user did something particularly “asexy”.

Cake as an asexual symbol has now spread out all across different platforms and is one of the most well known symbols of asexuality. All in all, it’s a fun and sweet symbol to bring those in the community together!

[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.

[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??

[inspiredrawaw]

The next time someone tells me “maybe your just a late bloomer” I’m gonna reply with “you’re expecting a sunflower to sprout out roses”

[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.

[ubtendo]

Happy late pride to everyone, especially to all the aro and ace people out there!💖

Soda and Scout have become very dear little characters to me (and other people too)

Originally they weren't supposed to be very deep characters that had much of a story, but in the short amount of time they grew on me, and their characteristics almost wrote themselves

And this is why Soda as asexual and Scout as aromantic just fits

They both value friendship and kinship with many more than just "the one", but both see themselves in a different way

While Scout isn't ever going to settle down with a family on his own, Soda is much more content in caring for her existing friendships. They both are their happiest with the way they are living their lives now, and I believe everyone should be so as well

To me your own sexuality matters not much in the aspect of you personality, we all are colorful people and we all deserve respect, your romantic/sexual orientation isn't something that should fully make you out but be a part of the complex being that you are and we all shouldn't forget that

At least that's how I feel

And again happy pride! - Juli💖✨️

[greenteaandtattoos]

Can you imagine if on the One Year Anniversary of the hotel opening, Charlie gifts Alastor a set of black and white rings? There's no way, that'd be silly... aha unless...?

[chuova]

meu corpo metamorfoseou em uma borboleta, sem beijos, sem abraços, apenas eu e minhas asas brancas quase transparentes.

[styrofauxm]

On aroace flags...

I want to be very clear, I am not criticizing anyone specific, but rather the current ways of combining the asexual and aromantic flags into a cohesive flag.

But I've had this floating around my head for a while, and I saw a post similar to it today, so I thought I'd throw in my two cents.

Cut because it got long.

In the ace flag, black means asexuality, gray means gray/demi sexual, white is for allosexual allies of asexual people, and purple means community. (I lost the link to the AVEN post, but someone dedicated can find it. Otherwise you can just look up the meanings on the internet to verify).

In the aro flag, the green and light green stripes are for the aromantic spectrum, white is for non-romantic attraction, and black and grey are for the sexuality spectrum. (Post by the creator saying this here: https://www.tumblr.com/cameronwhimsy/102698477928/whoops-yeah-i-just-realised-i-never-actually-made?source=share).

So black, grey, and white all mean different things for each flag, yet in most combination flags, they only appear once. Do they mean what they mean on the aromantic flag or what they mean on the asexual flag?

The light green and green don't have any arbitrary separations for people who do and don't feel romantic attraction, and the grey and black of the aro flag don't have that for sexual attraction either, while the asexual flag does. Cutting out one of the green stripes or moving the black and grey away from each other don't make sense in the context of the aromantic flag.

I've also seen some that add an extra purple stripe. It doesn't mean anything, it's just aesthetic.

Whether or not you like the sunset aroace flag, it is a good example to look at when trying to create a flag to represent aroace people. It keeps the association with asexuality and aromanticism, without using the original colors in ways that don't quite fit. (Color meaning breakdown by the creator here: https://aroaesflags.tumblr.com/post/181034758671/revised-aroace-flag-after-some-conversation-among).

The whole point of having pride flags is to have a meaningful symbol to represent our communities. For aroace people, mashing two together keeps the association with asexuality and aromanticism, but loses the deeper meaning behind each flag.

Honestly, as an aroace person, I think the only way to really design an aroace flag is to depart from the imagery of either flag. That ensures the meanings are solid, and it ensures no one in accidentally excluded (which is, to my understanding, why the sunset flag was created originally - to have a community symbol that included the whole community inherently). But I understand not everyone shares the sentiment.

So, from one aroace person to another, if you are going to design an aroace flag that's based on the ace and aro flags, please keep in mind what those colors mean in the context of each flag, and don't put them in just to have them. And be sure that your design properly includes everyone you are trying to represent.

[alicornze7]

Happy (late) international asexuality day!

this took a whole weekend...

it’s literally my day and I missed it how can I even call myself an ace smh/j

[merely-a-caricature]

Ace cake ;)

[mothz-emojiz]

My flags for pride month:3!!!!! I do identify with a lot more but explaining my wholleee vibe takes a bit:33

[heartshapedcreaturefromcriptoon]

...I'm sorry?

Like, what the fuck did I have to say in my notes about some Lily Orchard 2.0 grossly mischaracterizing Al as a Tumblr Sexyman TM, that a failed "gif maker" just crawled out of the woodwork to give me a ~"3/10"~ on before she proceeded to get Alastor's own name wrong?

Like, what the fuck these bitches booing us for? Apparently being entirely right all along according to goddamn fucking Wikipedia? Fuck off.

(Yes, now that I'm looking at my notes again I realized I fudged my on spelling but you know what? "Comspred" instead of "compared" because you know a brony comparing Alastor to The O*nce-Slur got me seeing red ...Because we know that if any male character in the show actually deserves that, it's Lucifer... "Ahobia" instead "acephobia" because you know whoever would compare Alastor to The O*nce-Slur is afraid of all the actually asexual hoes who actually know what they like, and Al would take The O*nce-Sl*r comparison as an insult because of the fact that he actually has canonical bitches who like him, while all of The O*nce-Sl*r's b*nches I'm pretty sure originally had to be as non-canonical and fabricated out the thin fucking blue air as Chrysanthemum Pearl... And that's a little Actual Sneak Peak into my 'Tumblr Sexyman Bechal Test' for ya' ...)

Like, at least I still didn't get Alastor's name wrong, so it's just like ...

Now how's that for using my gifs correctly, huh? And at least this one actually goddamn fucking moves...

[hazbinficsandstuff-eyeshadow]

Do aces have an obsession with 2?

We need two of everthing

2 food jokes

2 country jokes

Or is it just a joke thing

Two of jesters/fools?

YOU KNOW WHAT DUCKI TI EVERHTJING IS AN ACE SYMBOL/REFRENCE IF YOU TRY HARD ENOUGH

[thegrunkiest]

Shoutout to Tamriel's local murder family for handing out ace rings ayoooo

And given I hc Lucien as the one procuring the rewards as well as hc him as asexual this is doubly hilarious to me.