#bi/aro solidarity is strong in this one

[anarmel]

rayla: cheerleader and football player (eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee)

and again credit for the uniform design goes to @alexthedrummerboy

[the-gay-trashmouth]

Okay so I binged q-force. Is it perfect? No. No its not- it's a comedy adult cartoon about gay spies. It was funny, it had that found family trope and it had it good rep. It had butch 4 butch rep (pam and Deb my loves) trans goth chicks, and even an older women in power who I have a permanent lesbian crush on. I see a lot of people complaining about the stereotypes - mostly Twink- but like.... Y'all realize stereotypical gay people exist, right? Like there are butch lesbians who BBQ on weekends and adopt way to many dogs. There are drag queens who are super extra and loud and sexual. There are alt queer people who like obscure shit and would maybe like to fuck robots- shut up

Like ... Gay people are allowed to act gay. Y'all know that right? Gay culture is built on the "weird". Q force gave us stereotypes but also broke them.

Twink is a top who can throw a punch and is fucking badass. His drag connections come in handy and offers them tons of Intel. I've seen people talk about how it's bad that he wants to be skinny but.... Yall know some people Wanna be skinny? And that's not a bad thing??? Like yeah it can be unhealthy but he never once commented on anyone else's weight negatively- and we had a diverse body types. Just in the force we had a muscle vers, a fat stud lesbian, a tall lanky hacker, a slim thicc drag queen, a chubby hunk, and a middle aged woman with actual proportions. Could I have done without some of the tummy tuck jokes? Yeah, sure, but y'all realize actual queens talk like that.

Then we have Deb- the only character with her life together. She and her wife are very very happy and secure and its like... One of the first butch 4 butch relationship I've seen on screen that healthy. She's a mechanic and was on surviver but she's also the mom of the group. She's in touch with her emotions, she rescues dogs, her happy place is on the phone with her wife- she is a black stud lesbian and she's not a cold mean shell of a person. How often do y'all see that????

And then Stat- STAT! she's weird!! And that's the point! She likes being weird!! She's a trans hacker badass and she fucked an AI!! She's herself and unapologetically so. While affection and emotions make her uncomfortable she's still the one to go after Twink on his birthday. She cares about them all, even in her weird goth way. Shes good rep for those of us who are the "ugly alt queer" people love to make fun of. And the force loves her and her weirdness! Her and twink- two characters on complete opposite sides of the stereotype spectrum- are like best friends. They could of had them hate each other but they don't! He loves her and her weird goth vibes, she doesn't understand his scene but loves him and his drag and never says a damn word. Also!! Her VA is a trans woman!!!!

And fucking Steve- he's the cis het ideal. Strong, masc, average gay man. He could pass as straight- but he doesn't?? He has a boyfriend (who isnt some fuckin super model with the same body- he's a shy bear with glasses and a suffocatingly loving family- also!!! No homophobic family side plot???? Unheard of!!!!) and half of his arc is trying to be there For Him. He's not some hyper masc guy who "happens to be gay but everyones surprised" There is no sub plot of him hiding himself or "being seen as het" he's just a vers with a dorky sense of humor and has a little gaggle of gays (plus buck) that he's adopted and co-parenting with his butch lesbian best friend. Also wlw mlm solidarity!!! Holy shit!!!! that's rare!!!!

Even Buck- who's prolly bi let's be real- goes through an arc and isnt a 2D prick- he loves those gays like family by the end. And that's the end message- community in each other and loving your fellow queer people. There's no fighting between them about being a stereotype. No one makes fun on Twink for being femme, every one gets so happy when Stat smiles, Pam and Deb are happily married and Pam automatically takes her wife's little gay family from work and goes "I love them :))) you should bring them over more."

No its not perfect- I wish there was more open trans rep and nb rep, I wish there was some ace aro rep and I wish there was less animated dick and I could do without some if the skinny jokes Twink made but y'all realize rep isn't ever gonna be perfect? Gay ppl aren't perfect. Gay people are allowed to be stereotypes and the amount of LGBTQ people who worked on the show made it realistic. There was never a point that I was like "this was written by straight people".

Y'all shot down a funny, well written comedy cartoon made by the gays for the gays and hate it because there's a femme drag queen? There's stereotypes?? We're never going to get good rep if y'all crucify everything we do get. That's not saying don't be critical, but don't attack queer writers and what little rep we have because it's not the perfect cookie cutter shape for gays.

[catboylm]

I have never seen a single “ugly” or not amazing girl. I know this is an nb/mlm/nb acc but I think solidarity is important :)

Straight girls are valid and beautiful

Bi girls, lesbians and girls who like girls in general are splendid and amazing :) aro and/or ace girls deserve so much love and attention

Girls who are questioning are lovely and powerful

Trans women and girl related people should honestly rule the world /hj

Girls who don’t use labels are super rad and valid too!

Masculine, androgynous and gnc girls are incredible btw, y’all get all my love <333 same with feminine girls :)

Also pssst! Neurodivergent and neuroatypical girls: you rock too! Your unique experiences don’t reflect your value as a person! You can and deserve to find happiness, even if the journey to do so is different for you than your peers :)

Chubby+fat girls, you deserve so much more love and respect than society offers.

Girls, if you’re seeing this, you rock, you’re amazing, you’re strong, you got this :) let’s build a better world together

Also i stg if I see a single one of you saying ur an exception /j but please don’t do that bc I mean all girls and girl related people :)

Anyway ily now go be urself and do things that make ye happy bc u deserve it (yes, you. Don’t deny it or you will catch these hands /j)

**do not derail**

(Will be making edits as time passes)

**terfs and transphobes do not get to come near this post**

Please read my dni!!

[rgbfall]

Realised I haven't put my lgbt ninjago headcanons on my tumblr so! Here they are!

Kai

Bi with no preference

I also like aro Kai hcs but idk how to fit that into my hcs? Maybe he's aspec? Maybe he's just a really flirty aro? Not sure

Trans demiboy! Uses he/she/they but also doesn't care so doesn't tell people that unless they ask

Cole

He's tulipian! Omni gay and aspec!

Not sure where he is on the a-spectrum, maybe demi?, but he's romance and sex favorable

Also a bear gay. That's pretty obvious tbh

Just a cis/binary guy. He/him

Either Lou is gay and so Cole knew early on or Lou is homophobic and so for ages Cole didn't know what lgbtqa+ was beyond gay and lesbian so. Thought he was straight for ages until the other ninja came out too

Jay

Pan! He just has those vibes

Polyamarous as well bc I like polyninja too much (ofc all of them are polyam-spec but Jay uses it as like. A proper descriptor where the others don't)

Twink

Trans of gender because Look At Him. He/him but doesn't mind they/them.

I haven't thought of any specific ones, but he strikes me as someone who'd use neos. So. He's trying those out I guess

Zane

Loveless aroace. A lot of aro pride. Will still date though because I'm Like That too

Nonbinary. Have you seen him. Genderfluid and very gnc. Can and will wear heels because they're a queen

Sapphoboy and achilleagirl (WLW/MLM). Not sure if it's a gaybian/uses lesbian and turian/gay? Maybe just pan/ply though

He/she/they/it. Pronoun preference fluctuates, but she's pretty much only with anything anytime

Nya

Bi because of course she is. Female preference

Maybe bi lesbian? She has very strong bi vibes but she also has massive lesbian energy. So maybe both

Jaya was just MLM/WLW solidarity there is no romance there

Also aro(spec?)

Trans of gender obv

She/her

Lloyd

Gay n aroace.

Trans nonbinary (FTNB) gets very dysphoric w/ fem stuff

He/they. Also haven't decided on any neos but those too

Xenic somehow. Probably xenogenders that are like,, excited, playful, wisp-like genders

Pixal

Nonbinary ICON. Demigirl I think

Sapphic somehow? She likes Women

She/they

Bonus:

Skylor

Genderfluid lesboy. You can fight me on the lesboy thing I'm right

He/she

A very spiteful/angry queer person (i.e. literally calls himself a lesboy out of SPITE)

[grasslandgirl]

AHHH hardwon for the character asks?

aaaahhh tysm abby i care him....

How I feel about this character:

Hardwon my FUCKING beloved... I’m truly so obsessed w his arc from like Cliche Strong Guy in the moonstone arc to how quickly jake realizes how much more fun it is to play flawed characters. I love how he’s so naturally open, even when he doesn’t want to/ try to be, and how devoutly loyal he always is to the people he cares about...... waaaahh

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

tbh? bi hardwon and hardshine truther <3 their whole arc is SO chefs kiss mwah romantic or not but i am.... many thoughts head full..... that being said ace hardwon/ aro moonshine solidarity is also SO VERY GOOD. also also i think very repressed homosexual dwarfanage-age hardwon who shoves all his repressed feelings for his not-friend nerman onto gemma bc shes a Girl and Safe is also VERY good. i contain multitudes. so does hardwon <3

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

beside the obvious band of boobs immaculate family dynamic, i specifically really love hardwon and bev’s older/younger brother dynamic its alwasys SO good and i also adore the sibling dynamic jaina and hardwon get at the end of the campaign (jaina also my beloved.....)

My unpopular opinion about this character:

uh idk. i gues hardshine is kind of lesser popular opinion? ace hardwon is also a less common hc even though its VERY good? idk. im right youre wrong etc <3

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

this doesn’t really count but theres a text post about what if when hardwon dies (bc he’s just a human and doesnt have the high level class life extention benefits moonshine and bev do) he like gets a magic astral airship and just sails around the astral sea and visits all the planes and all the loved ones he has in all the other afterlives and he slowly gets a crew of other souls tht dont want to settle in one afterlife and moonshine and bev can go visit him with plane shift and GOD i think about that daily............. (read the post here, op is far more eloquent than i)

send me a character and I’ll answer these questions about them!!

[evilneo]

for the hc thing any of your funny warrior cat guys

Ok so I couldn't decide between the 3 + dovewing and ivy so I'm doing all 5!!!! 👍 Sorry 💛

Under the cut bc this is LONG

Jayfeather

Sexuality Headcanon: Aromantic Demisexual Gay

Gender Headcanon: guy adjacent? Nonbinary 👍

A ship I have with said character: I don't think I have one?

A BROTP I have with said character: Jay and Briarlight 🥺

A NOTP I have with said character: I'm not into any jay ship tbh

A random headcanon: Windclan build. it's barely noticeable but his eyes glow slightly (when he had his powers that is)

General Opinion over said character: i hated him at first but I really love him now???? He's my guy :)

Hollyleaf

Sexuality Headcanon: Aro Lesbian

Gender Headcanon: She doesn't know (never thought about it) but she's Agender (she/her)

A ship I have with said character: uhhh if I remember right it was Holly/Cinderheart??? Yea 👍

A BROTP I have with said character: Holly and Fallen Leaves are wlw+nlw/mlm+nlw solidarity ok?? They're FRIENDS

A NOTP I have with said character: Uh. Idk?

A random headcanon: on gd I am giving her cat-bpd. Also she likes to use her claws to doodle in the dirt! The middle ground between a Thunderclan and a Windclan build (although definitely more on the Wind side)

General Opinion over said character: WAHHHHH I LOVE YOU SO MUCH

Lionblaze

Sexuality Headcanon: bisexual. Or pan idk

Gender Headcanon: cis 💀

A ship I have with said character: Can't remember any?

A BROTP I have with said character: Uhh. Idk

A NOTP I have with said character: Idk!! Idk

A random headcanon: takes after his mother physically. Has Adhd. His skin glows slightly but you can't really see it under his fur

General Opinion over said character: I kinda don't like him too much. Sorta boring?

Dovewing

Sexuality Headcanon: Bi and ace-spec

Gender Headcanon: my love you are trans <3 she/her

A ship I have with said character: I... Don't know. Can't remember

A BROTP I have with said character: I think her and Jay are friends! :)

A NOTP I have with said character: FUCK YOU TIGERHEART. DIE.

A random headcanon: inside of ears glow slightly, barely noticeable. Blue/Green Hetrochromia (with gold bits in both eyes) (I refuse to pick a side on the eyes discourse 👍)

General Opinion over said character: people hate her too much :/ she's canny and I like her

Ivypool

Sexuality Headcanon: Aroace

Gender Headcanon: Genderqueer (she/they/it)

A ship I have with said character: no <3

A BROTP I have with said character: her and Holly :)

A NOTP I have with said character: All the weird ones and I think SOME people need to be reminded that Holly and Ivy are cousins and there's a prophecy about them being related.

A random headcanon: has strong PTSD. The build of her mother and the face of her father.

General Opinion over said character: WAHH ILY

[marinsawakening]

Arospec headcanon ask game: Paninya!

HO BOY you picked like the ONE character I love that I don’t have a set headcanon for but I sure love talking about Paninya so I’m gonna go with it.

What arospec identities do they have? (Can be as specific or vague as desired)

Okay SO I really love to see her as some flavor of arospec, because I’m arospec and I love her, but I CANNOT decide what I want to actually headcanon her as. However, I do know she’d still be open to a romantic relationship, regardless of the arospec identity, because I headcanon that she and Winry start one post-canon. 

Identities that I generally flux between are cupioromantic/romance-favourable lesbian, quoiromantic lesbian, or oriented/angled aroace lesbian. I do also headcanon her as alloro sometimes (and also bi in the sense of liking both nonbinary people and girls), to be honest. I’m gonna go with quoiromantic lesbian for the sake of this post.

(…Aroflux might work? GOD I need to decide on a headcanon for her.)

(Anyway she’d definitely queer.)

How proud of being arospec are they?

Proud, but after the euphoria period after she figured it out, she kind of died down a little. When she first figured it out, she was yelling it across the roofs, literally, with people in Rush Valley being very confused but congratulating her nonetheless. After that, she did calm down, but she still drops it into a quite a few conversations if she can get away with it, and definitely has a pride flag and pin.

Do they prioritize their arospec identity over any others?

Eh, not really? Her top priority is definitely the fact that she’s transfem and an amputee, and after that the rest of her identities kind of get thrown into a big heap. It’s difficult for her to figure things out, and she’s still questioning a lot (both on the queer front and the neurodiversity front), but she’s definitely proud of being a grade A weirdo. 

Are they out? If so, how did they come out, and to whom?

They’re out to like the entirety of Rush Valley due to the aforementioned ‘screaming it off the rooftops’ incident. She’s also out to pretty much everyone she’s ever met, because she drops it into a LOT of conversations, but specifically, she’s out to Ed and Winry. Winry because she was the catalyst to figuring things out, and Ed because she’s in a qpr with him and he’s also arospec, so they have some strong Chaotic Arospec Solidarity going on. 

How do they feel about romance? Romance-favorable? Romance-neutral? Romance-repulsed? Or does it fluctuate?

Romance-favourable, definitely! She loves doing romance-coded things like kissing and cuddling and dating, and she’s very happy with her romantic relationship! She’s actually quite the romantic, kind of like Will from the Princess Bride but like, 200 times more chaotic.

Have they ever experienced arophobia? If so, how?

Not really. I headcanon Rush Valley as a haven of queer people of all kinds, so although aro people are still a minority, she’s been involved in the queer community for quite some time and has found pretty radical acceptance there. Also Don would fight anyone who did anything to Paninya, and so would the rest of the town tbh, not to mention the fact that Paninya has a canon in one leg and a knife in the other, so people know better than to mess with her.

How do they show their arospec pride?

Pins, flags, and a lot of talking about it! She’s also goes to pride, and although the queer/trans flag is the largest just about every year, she does fly the quoiro and/or aro flags proudly on a regular basis.

Do they actively try to combat amatonormativity in their daily lives or elsewhere? If so, how?

Again, she talks about being quoiro a lot and she’s in a really unsual qpr with Winry and Ed, so she’s basically the walking talking antithesis to amatonormativity. 

Was it easy for them to label themselves arospec, or was there a long period of questioning? How many labels did they have to try before landing on the one they use now?

It wasn’t that easy; it was probably the hardest of her queer identities. Quoiromanticism by definition is confusing as hell, and her cocktail of neurodiversities (which yes, I haven’t decided on either, shut up) made focusing on her feelings for long enough to actually, you know, figure out an identity quite hard, but Winry kind of put things into overdrive. Paninya was definitely attracted to her in a sexual way, and there was something else too, but it was a really weird blur and practically impossible to figure out. She liked romance things, yes, but she doesn’t quite understand what people mean by romantic attracation, or platonic attraction for that matter, and doesn’t quite understand how you’d differentiate a friend that you go on platonic dates with and a romantic partner, aside from the fact that with the latter, you’ve decided to be in a romantic relationship. Labeling the attraction she felt for Winry was a gigantic hassle, because she just plain fundamentally doesn’t understand the difference between platonic and romantic attraction and is permanently confused by everything. Then she learnt of the term quoiromantic, specifically the ‘not able to differentiate platonic attraction from romantic attraction’ definition, and well, it clicked and she was very happy about it.

Would they be interested in a QPR? Why or why not?

Like I said, she’s in a queerplatonic triad with Winry and Ed, but it’s a bit more complicated than that tbh. She’s in a romantic relationship with Winry, and in the world’s most informal qpr with Ed, and Ed and Winry are in a committed relationship they’ve chosen not to label for the moment. She probably wouldn’t have sought out a qpr on her own, preferring a romantic relationship, but she’s glad that Ed proposed it, because she’s found that it fulfills a different type of need for her than her romantic relationship with Winry. Her and Ed’s qpr is a lot less formal and love-y dovey (like I said, Paninya’s quite the romantic with Winry, albeit it in a very chaotic way), and looks like a weirdly competitive friendship for everyone around them, but they also feel very at ease around each other, and plan big life decisions with each other (and Winry, of course), so they both felt like a ‘queerplatonic’ label would just be convenient, especially since they were both already in a relationship with Winry. 

Final thoughts?

I may not know what I headcanon Paninya as exactly but she sure is in a queerplatonic relationship and I sure love her to pieces!

[too-spicy-and-too-queer]

I took an 'intro to queer studies' course back in 2017. It was crazy enlightening and awesome. I was especially excited for the scheduled discussion about aromanticism...That day also included pansexuality and 97% of it was about that. I thought, "people are killed and harrassed for loving the same sex, so who tf cares about aros? We have nothing to worry about." I have nothing against the lgbtq+ community. But now I know that the class didn't know about amatonormativity. Where do we stand?

Honestly, I’m glad that aromanticism was mentioned at all in a queer studies class.  We’re basically unknown to everyone outside aro and ace communities.  I’ve done a good bit of organizing in queer communities and never met anyone who had even heard of aromanticism except aces and a couple of very thorough sociologists.  Sadly, it doesn’t surprise me that the whole class time was spent on pansexuality and not aromanticism.

We aromantics may not be targeted by the same kind of deadly public threats that a lot of other queer people face, but as I discussed in a previous post, we do face plenty of discrimination, abuse, ostracization, pathologization, and even assault, just like asexuals face.  Though I hate making such a grim prediction, it may only be a matter of time before we do face more targeted aggression as we become more visible.

It’s also important to note that the claim “aromantics aren’t oppressed” is itself an attack on our identity and our history by attempting to erase us.  The oppression we face is very similar to the oppression bisexuals face, which shouldn’t be surprising since we used to fall under the bisexual umbrella.  Anyone who does not conform to cisheteronormativity is subject to attack.  Aros in particular pose a radical threat to cisheteronormativity that no other queer orientation does: the threat of exposing how narrow and fragile are our society’s definitions of intimacy and love.

I implied it in the above paragraph, but I want to explicitly say it before I move on: being queer isn’t defined by being oppressed or being in particular relationships.  The foundation of queerness is one’s internal experience of one’s own identity and attractions.  When any part of that experience does not match the cisheteronormative narratives, then that is a queer experience.

I know it can feel like some queer communities have turned their backs on us, with the rise of exclusionism on Tumblr and the indifference towards or outright rejection of aces and aros in some IRL queer spaces.  But I assure you, we deserve just as much recognition and dignity as other queer identities, and we have plenty of allo queer allies, especially intersectionalists.  I think forging community bonds along intersectional lines is the best way forward for us.  Solidarity between aro communities and bi and enby communities is already strong, but connecting aromantic activism and decolonialism in particular I think has a lot of potential.  There are plenty of other communities that we can build bonds of solidarity with, like polyamorous communities and neurodivergent communities.  There’s a lot we can give to those communities with our unique perspectives, and a lot they can bring to us.

Even in the short time I’ve been involved in the online aromantic communities, I’ve seen tremendous growth and outreach, and a swelling confidence in our identities.  I think we have brighter days ahead of us, and it won’t be long before we’re more than a footnote in Intro to Queer Studies.

[vorpalgirl]

Introducing: The Inclusionist WLW Pride Flag Design, by VorpalGirl The lack of something quite like this has been bugging me for some time, so I decided to do something about it! tldr on the background of the design: I’m a wlw who wants to express solidarity with her sisters and Pride in her identity as a wlw, but who also includes asexual spectrum, aromantic spectrum, and trans and nonbinary  people who wish to ID that way, in the category of “women” and “wlw”, and who welcomes Queer folk of that type into the “wlw” and LGBTQ/LGBT+ fold with no problem.  That’s who and what this flag is meant to represent. More on the background: There wasn’t yet a flag that is THAT specific, which is I why I wanted one. There are bisexual and pansexual pride flags, but they don’t indicate that the individual is specifically someone who identifies as a wlw, and they furthermore would seem to differentiate more strongly between “types” of wlw than this would (in that they are specifically for people who are not monosexual and/or not monoromantic); there’s at least two common-ish “lesbian” flags, but they have the reverse issue, they seem to carry an implication of not being “for” bi/pan-ish women...and at least one (the labrys) has been heavily claimed by exclusionists, to boot. Meanwhile, I adore the classic rainbow and the newer queer chevrons, but again, those are far broader in meaning!  I know it’s such a small, perhaps silly thing, but I wanted to have a flag that was more specific than the rainbow, that embraced my “feminine” identity while still being NOT exclusive of either monosexual lesbians OR bi/pan women...and which definitely could include ace or aro and trans or enby people by default. So I made this, to capture all the parts of my queer, wlw identity that I felt were important to me, and I’m sharing it because I get the feeling there are others out there who might share some of that :) tldr on the design itself: - the actual design is a magenta-pink field bisected horizontally through its center by a purple bar, effectively forming three stripes. The purple bar is thick, but slightly narrower than what is showing of the pink.  - the magenta-pink for the background was chosen to be a bold, strong color that still reads as what my (Western) culture currently codes as “feminine” or “female” (representing both what the individual at least loosely identifies with, and what is at least one of the things they are drawn to in others)

- the purple bar, which is a medium shade of purple, is for a bold, strong representation of “queerness”, which at least as of the 20th and 21st centuries, was commonly represented in the West by various shades of purple or violet.  Less-tldr explanation of meaning: In this context, the “queerness” represents: - a recognition of the existence of heterosexism, aka mainstream Western culture’s biases towards ideas of a “sex binary”, “gender binary” and “gendered behavior” stereotypes, as well as its insistence on the narrow way romance, sexuality, and relationships in general are all “supposed” to work between consenting adults - it also recognizes that while existing in a culture that runs on heterosexism may have impacted us, heterosexism itself is unscientific bullpucky, a set of cultural biases that is unnecessarily and irrationally restrictive, and often damaging  - and it thus accepts that not everyone “fits” in those neat tidy boxes of “cisgender perisex heterosexual heteroromantic and gender-stereotype-conforming”, nor should they have to. - by necessity, it welcomes many, many people who do not feel they fit the heterosexist model, into the fold of “LGBTQ” or “LGBT+” or whatever other term of solidarity they prefer, including bi/pan, trans or nonbinary, and asexual or aromantic individuals.

In other words, SUPER TLDR: This flag design is for my fellow wlw-identifying people who are Inclusionists, who see bi/pan, ace/aro, and trans or nonbinary identities, as well as those which combine or blend such identities, as generally valid, and who do not exclude them from the category “LGBTQ” or “LGBT+”.  

[aroworlds]

Aro-Spec Artist Profile: Pauline

Our next aro-spec creator is Pauline, known here on Tumblr as @the-rose-owl but best known to the aro-spec community as one of the super talented mods on @arostuck!

Pauline is a queer, bigender and aromantic original and fan creator specialising in digital art. Aside from populating much of this blog’s homestuck tag, you can find his super cute work on @rosey-arts, DeviantArt and YouTube. She creates fanart for Homestuck and Steven Universe along with a heap of gorgeous OCs. I’m in non-romantic love with this gorgeous draft-horse centaur girl and this sleepy plant-themed dog!

With us Pauline talks about aro pride, his journey to aromanticism, art as building self-esteem and her passion for the aro-spec community. His words are just so brimming with positivity and enthusiasm, so please let’s give her all our love, encouragement, gratitude, kudos and follows for taking the time to explore what it is to be aromantic and creative.

Can you share with us your story in being aro-spec?

I really found a home in the arospec community, and it’s very important to me as an identity. I’m proud of being aro, and of being part of this community. I at first identified as bi because of a lack of romantic preference, then later on as greyro and finally aro! I initially simply gave it no thought, assuming I was just too young for romance, but one thing led to another and I found out that my friend (similarly aged) had a crush on me. This forced me to re-examine my complete lack of interest and understanding of romance in order to best explain to them why I couldn’t reciprocate. I’d actually seen the aromantic label before questioning, which made figuring it out a lot easier in the end!

Can you share with us the story behind your creativity?

My art brings me a lot of joy, and that outlet to be creative is something I feel is essential to me. It helps my self-esteem a lot, seeing actually finished works and having visual proof that yes, I do have valuable skills and I am capable of doing things. I’m not planning on going professional with it, but it’s still something that’s really important to me and is a big source of happiness! Creating art also helps to connect with other artists, and it’s nice to be part of a community like that.

Are there any particular ways your aro-spec experience is expressed in your art?

My works in general don’t really have any narrative between them, and as such it’s kind of hard for any specific part of my identity to be represented in my pieces? But I do in general focus more on platonic relationships rather than romantic ones in my art. And, as mentioned earlier, I’m a part of an arospec-specific art blog/community, so me being aro gives me that extra outlet on top of my usual work!

Also, and this is just tangentially related, but for this year’s arospec awareness week I made the arrow-with-yellow-roses art, and it got a really great reception from the community! I feel like I’ve made an actual meaningful contribution to the arospec community in this small way and it’s something I’m really happy about.

How do you connect to the aro-spec and a-spec communities as an aro-spec person?

As I said earlier, I really found my home in the arospec community, so it holds a big place in my heart and I feel a strong connection to it. I feel like I can actually relate to so many people, and that we share the same ideas and passions. That’s something that’s been rare to find for me, so it’s really important to me that I feel like a meaningful part of this big group. While I may not personally know every other arospec person out there, there’s a feeling of solidarity and connection there for sure. It was the first time I’d ever really felt completely belonging in this way! I’m not acespec myself, so there’s less personal connection to the more general a-spec community, but I still feel moderately involved in it, and there’s a nice sense of arospec/acespec solidarity there too, even if they don’t always overlap.

How do you connect to your creative community as an aro-spec person?

Generally it’s a positive experience, but sometimes it does feel a little alienating because of the overwhelming focus on romantic relationships and barely any content depicting platonic/familial ones. This is why I’m really excited to find other arospec people creating content like that, with all the nuance and depth in depicting those platonic relationships that a lot of alloromantic people just gloss over!

[acefriar]

Split Attraction, Whole Person

Before even starting today's essay, I feel it's important to point out that not all ace spectrum people use the split attraction model. For some it feels unnecessary. For others, they have a dimension of gender, disability, ethnic, or racial identity that strongly informs the way they encounter the world. So, what I'm posting here is descriptive, not prescriptive.

For many allo people, split attraction will seem confusing, because it is most common for some of their most intense attractions to overlap in a way that feels seamless. Even as I say that, I believe that the possibility for strong empathy and solidarity exists with Bi+/Pan people, who may have had the experience of being attracted to people of various genders, for various reasons, with varying intensity to paraphrase Robyn Ochs.

The basic idea is that many aro and or ace people sometimes experience different kinds of attraction without the overlap.

There are Aesthetic attractions, really appreciating human beauty, without any romantic or sexual draw. When I have expressed this kind of attraction, friends can be confused, especially since AMAB people are expected to desire sex with anyone they find beautiful .

Platonic attraction describes the intense desire to be in close friendship, this one is very intense for me, and is part of the reason I love intentional community and it's invitation to form very deep friendships.

Sensual attraction is the desire to experience physical intimacy that is non-sexual. The exact form varies, it could be hand holding, hugs, massage, cuddling, spooning, co-sleeping, and the context can be platonic, queerplatonic, or romantic. Cuddling, co-sleeping, and hugs are some of the most important intimacy that I enjoy.

Romantic attraction is a desire for a close relationship that includes expressions of romantic love. Typically this includes milestone celebrations, dating, romantic gifts, and perhaps activities like kissing and sensual intimacy. A basic romantic infatuation is usually called a crush. While I have had a couple of crushes of the course of my life, I don't resonate strongly with this form of attraction.

Aromantic people, who either do not experience or experience romantic desire quite differently have invented some awesome terms, including quasiplatonic, queerplatonic, and alterous attraction. These all describe intense emotional attraction or bonding that lives in the space between purely platonic and purely romantic attraction. While the terms are newer, the experience is very familiar, and I find myself identifying as alterous most of the time.

Sexual attraction is the desire to engage in sexual behavior with a specific person, regardless of the relationship between the two people. There are some aromantic people who experience this form of attraction, not connected to romantic feelings. As for me, if you read yesterday's essay, you know I can't describe what this is like.

Attraction is towards another person, it can be primarily towards people of the same gender, of a different gender, of more than one gender, of all genders, or even irrespective of gender. Sometimes emotional closeness is most important. Other times, recreational compatibility or personality traits are key. Some ace people will append prefixes on their attractions homoromantic (romantically attracted to the same gender), panalterous (alterous attraction regardless of gender), heterosensual (sensual attraction to a different gender). Like I said at the beginning, these modifiers are helpful, but not essential. What matters is that everyone has the vocabulary and tools to engage in healthy, honoring, and consensual relationships that affirm their dignity and worth.

[hinatakickflips]

-makoto is straight and in a committed relationship w/ kyoko but definitely had a one sided crush on sayaka; probably hit on universally

-mondo + ishimaru may or may not be bfs, but mondo is definitely gay

-sayaka emits strong lesbian vibes but is probably victim to leons bad pickup attempts anyway

-chihiro is a guy if thats what he wants (personally i view them as genderfluid) but alter ego is nb and aro ace w/ chiaki

-byakuya is a cishet incel and toukos only attracted to him bc he fits her s&m interests but touko and jill themselves r now dating komaru who is and always has been a proud mtf w/w

-asahina + sakura are jock gfs

-junko is the most powerful pan in the world and tsumiki is her lesbian gf

-celeste, izuru, and rantaro are INTENSELY ace and at least the former two are aro

-all protags are possibly trans but shuichi is the strongest contender

-the majority of sdr2 is queer w/ only souda to show for their local cishet, they all give off strong nonstraight vibes but are also ambiguous at the same time

-nekomaru + imposter give off bi/pan vibes respectively, teruteru (sigh) is openly bi, but somehow ibuki takes the cake for the POWER BI vibes of game 2

-mahiru + hiyoko are femme gfs and make sonia think abt having a girlfriend too, however she and gundam are a trans solidarity so she doesnt rlly get lonely (aka sonia??? trans. gundam?? maybe so. less likely... but never impossible)

-HAJIME IS BI BUT CHUNSOFT ARE JUST COWARDS HOWEVER HE IS DEFINITELY BI.. he has an implied crush on chiaki but personally prefer them as just besties

-fuyuhiko is trans and loves his gf peko and they r voted most likely to get married

-komaeda loves boys and one of those boys is hajime and thats just something ur gonna have to deal w/

-shuichi saihara + kaede akamatsu are BI ICONS and in love

-v3 is the pan game. angie? pan. kiibo? pan. miu? pan. tsumugi? pan. even shuichi can be pan if u want

-kiibo is our local he/him nb ace and we love him

-TENKO SURE LOVES GIRLS and def deserves to date himiko, but who knows if.. himiko deserves her...

-kaito is a repressed gay and ouma gives me v subtle trans vibes

-idk what oumas into but i feel like regardless of attraction (present or otherwise) hed just never date anyone bc he prefers to hoard attention and return none... whether thats bc hes aro or its a personal choice idk, but he sure as heck aint ace

[inktheblot]

literally please do the whole pines family (including fiddleford)

the ask I’ve been waiting for my whole life tbh

I’m going to preface this with All The Pines Are Autistic Thank U so as not to be redundant…anyways

Dipper

sexual orientation headcanon: gray-aro, gray-ace, confused always

gender headcanon: trans boy

mental illness / neurodivergent headcanon: anxiety, later developing depression, generally just a small ball of Stress™

3 random headcanons:

He builds strong friendships with the gals individually and has a different movie genre or show he likes to marathon with each of them (b-list horror flicks with Wendy, ghost hunting shows with Pacifica, Pokémon and the like with Candy…).

He is the one with the most success breaking Stan from his temporary memory lapses more often than not. His sardonic, clear-cut approach to the truth combined with his devoted protective instincts are usually just what Stan needs to hear.

He takes Latin in high school, somewhat motivated by wanting to be able to translate all the weird incantations in the Journal (and in all those bad horror movies).

Mabel

sexual orientation headcanon: pan

gender headcanon: demigirl

mental illness / neurodivergent headcanon: adhd, maladaptive daydreaming

3 random headcanons:

She tries teaching Ford to knit, but about all he can manage is weird fuzzy socks. She wears them with pride.

She has given a few-week trial period each to just about every embarrassing teenage phase known to man and loved every second of it.

She helps Pacifica dye her hair lake-foam green one summer, with a stripe in her own locks for solidarity.

Stan

sexual orientation headcanon: a fly bi guy™

gender headcanon: cis dude

mental illness / neurodivergent headcanon: depression, dyslexia, bpd

3 random headcanons:

He teaches himself the ukulele on the Stan o’ War II. Drives Ford bonkers.

He ends up sewing the pac-man fish symbol onto his beanie. It just feels better that way for some reason.

His favorite ice cream flavor is Rocky Road. i’m awful

Ford

sexual orientation headcanon: gay ace who went to space

gender headcanon: masc-aligned genderqueer

mental illness / neurodivergent headcanon: ptsd, paranoia, some kind of psychosis probs?

3 random headcanons (3 and a half kinda, whoops):

At least one or two of the thirteen languages he learned in other dimensions were sign languages.

He practices witchcraft later in life as something of a scientific interest, a curious hobby, a meditation, and a faith all rolled into one. 

To accompany this, he fashions an amulet of the Zodiac circle but with Bill’s image replaced with an upside-down triangle silhouette, signifying his defeat and the triumph of the prophesied members’ love and friendship. He wears it over his heart to keep the energy of his loved ones’ bond with him always. The prophecy was never so much about joining hands literally after all…

His favorite food is eggs, any and every style imaginable. (I have no explanation for this one it just kinda happened)

Fiddleford

sexual orientation headcanon: bi

gender headcanon: trans man

mental illness / neurodivergent headcanon: anxiety, ocd

3 random headcanons:

Growing up, his family life was awkward at best, but he did have a younger sister whom he loved very dearly and who was the first person he came out to before leaving for college.

He worked as a substitute teacher for a while while he was waiting for his computer business to take off. He shows the students who give him grief that he’s not quite the pushover he seems, and he’s a good bit more intelligent than his quirky exterior might imply. Ford teases him over the phone about his “temp job”.

He still refers to the ex-Northwest Manor as “the shed”.

[cluelessbutch]

my tired gay heart breaks when i see wlw in-fighting. why can’t bi girls and queer girls and lesbians and all wlw/sapphics just love and support each other!! why are y'all giving each other so much shit when society shits on us all so much anyway!

i’m here for my trans and nb wlw, ace and aro wlw, wlw who are with girls or nb folks or guys or no one, wlw who don’t use she/her pronouns, i’m here for wlw who id as wlw bc of trauma or id as lesbians bc they don’t want to be with men even if they are sometimes attracted to them, i’m here for u all. wlw are wonderful and i want to see us lifting each other up not gatekeeping and policing identities and seeing each other as the enemy!! it will always be more beneficial and more fulfilling to support each other than to tear each other down.

we’re all in this together, friends, and even though we all experience misogyny and homophobia differently, it doesn’t mean we can’t stand united—we have so much more in common than our oppression. we are beautiful and we are strong and we stand up for each other, we protect each other, we support each other.

tl;dr reblog 4 sapphic solidarity