BuySomeCheese

8 hours ago, An Aro in the Quiver said:

 

This one omgs so true

5 hours ago, roboticanary said:

One thing that might be useful is a guy called Nik Hampshire did a really good set of videos with the titles 'being aromantic while not asexual'

 

I remember this being recommended a while back in another thread and I would say there is a benefit from listening to someone setting their ideas out in a video rather than a short comment.

Oh thank you for suggesting him, he’s got quite a few videos on that and I think that’ll be really helpful!!!

That actually makes a lot of sense and is a lot easier than I thought it’d be thank you lol

Basically the title lol. I’m trying to identify the different types of attraction I feel towards people, and I’ve seen enough posts talking about what platonic attraction vs romantic attraction to have an idea about what the differences mean to me rn. It’s the difference between sexual and romantic attraction that’s not making sense yet so it’d be nice if some of y’all who feel sexual attraction could describe it!! Thank you!!

Hey homie welcome!!

I mainly play The Sims 4 and Nintendo games, especially Tomodachi Life. Recently I got into Minecraft too

I’m also INTJ/FJ, I get almost 50/50 for feeling and thinking lol

6 hours ago, An Aro in the Quiver said:

Do you know where she is from or if she is just random art?

I wish I did lol, I had tried doing the image search thingy to find her but I couldn’t for the life of me sorry

Hey welcome!! I just wanted to say, I love your pfp. It’s the anime chick I used as my OCs face in 5th grade, before I knew I was trans ftm lol

Rain

Thank you, the points you made are really helpful!!!!

Sorry I’m really bad at titles anyways I’m just going to dump all thoughts related to my questioning of my romantic orientation here and we’ll see what happens lol.

I love my 5 best friends more than anything or anyone else and I’ve tried to feel like that for other people (except romantic edition) but I can’t.

I’ve seen some people describe being romantically attracted to someone as “being in physical pain when you’re not around them” but the way I feel for my friends are definitely not romantic even though my chest feels tight and my limbs get shaky if they’re hurting or I haven’t been able to see them. 

The 6 of us do have tentative plans and dreams of living together after we graduate for a bit, and when I tell you that that’s all I want, to be able to wake up and see them and cook dinner with them and know that they’re right there. 

The one time I was in a romantic relationship, we dated for 8 months and I was definitely attracted to her for at least the first four months (? about, maybe less) but after that I was just suffocated and honestly scared, and while it has come to light that she’s kinda toxic and not a great person or friend, I think I would’ve felt the same with anyone else. I also mainly said yes to her asking me out because I knew she liked me and I thought that that was how people started liking others and while that’s not completely wrong from what I’ve seen, it was definitely the wrong move for me to make. 

When I was in 6th grade, for about a year and half, I thought I had a crush on one of my 5 people. Maybe I did, I’m definitely more attracted to her physically than I am the other 4, but I don’t think any romantic feelings ever actually existed. I think I was confusing physical and sexual attraction with romantic maybe?

I used to be really obsessed with romance and all but suddenly I really couldn’t care less?

I’ve been reading fanfiction (not exactly sfw either unfortunately) since like 5th grade (and I honestly don’t remember why or how? But anyways) and maybe that skewed my perception of romance? But also I’ve never been a fan of romantic fluff or angst fanfiction really, idk.

My mom is a single mother and I’ve never had a constant example of a relationship from her, so maybe that had also affected the way I see romantic relationships? She dated one person when I was about 8 and not for long, and now she’s kinda? with another dude but idk, I feel like I’d feel the same about relationships and romance no matter what she had done when I was younger, but maybe?

I think it’s kinda funny that I’m questioning my romantic orientation when my best friends had gone to me to ask if how a crush felt when they were wondering if they liked each other (they did, they’ve been dating for over a year and are so cute together omgs).

One of my friends (not one of my 5) has/had a crush on me and I feel pretty similarly to when I was dating my ex about it sometimes. Like, I’ve explained to them that I’m not ready for a relationship and I don’t want to hurt them and I’m really emotionally confused and unavailable rn, but I think they’re holding out for me to come around and I don’t think that’ll happen. I really can’t see myself dating them. When I first met them, I felt a lot of really strong emotions but I think it was just a huge rush of platonic emotions? Idk I feel like I’m leading them on a bit and I hate it so I kept accidentally ghosting them.

On the topic of people having a crush on me, I’m usually really good at telling when people like me. Idk why, I just know that I don’t do anything about it. It usually doesn’t affect me much because idk I don’t feel much for them back in any way. I don’t know if this is relevant I just think it’s funny.

Another thing relating to being the object of people’s romantic attraction- I think two of my friends (these people are part of the 5) think they have a crush on me. One of them is the girl I used to maybe like so I love that timing lol. I have been getting those vibes from her on and off for eh about a year now maybe. I don’t really mind that these two think they like me. I don’t think that either of them really do, one of them keeps jumping from boy to boy which is fine! but it’s mainly to escape from her negative mental health, and the other is really confused about everything all the time. Idk of course I can’t tell what they’re feeling unless they tell me but that’s just what I’ve deduced. 

I think I’m probably allosexual, which makes some things about romance feel confusing to me? I mean, I’m not looking to have sex anytime soon, I’m a minor and I’m also too dysphoric for that rn. But I do like the idea, in a fwb way? But then that makes me feel like shallow ig which is silly because I don’t think it is inherently but some part of my brain does apparently.

I say I’m probably polyamorous because I don’t feel jealous ever really, I feel protective over people and I think I’ve mistaken that for jealousy in the past. But idk?

I also say I’m biromantic usually because I feel the same towards different people of different genders, it depends on the person? Idk that one doesn’t make much sense I saw on the “YMBAI” post someone worded what I’m trying to say much better.

I really like romance in theory (media, books, music, etc.) but in practice it feels icky.

Idk I might come back here if I remember or discover more things

Edit: O wow that really don’t be making any sense nice

I don't know how my mother identifies- she's been married but only for a short period of time when she was younger, and she did have romantic relationships when she was in high school but hasn't had any long-term relationships since she got divorced. Through sperm donation, she had me and my younger brother. I'm personally probably on the aromantic spectrum and I definitely want kids too, just not for a while lol. As a child conceived through sperm donation and raised by a single mother, I think its a great choice as long as you're sure that you're ready. And like with all kids, yours will ask some difficult questions, you'd just have to deal with some questions of a different breed lol. And like idk don't avoid questions ig? When I was in pre-k I told everyone my dad died in a war because my mom never explained that to me properly. Its kinda funny now but concerned parents, teachers and friends at the time so just a warning, stuff like that might happen XD

But best of luck to you!! I hope this works out well for you!!

Hey!! I'm Gabe, I'm 15, I use he/him pronouns, and I'm new here. I've been lurking around as a guest for maybe a week but only just got around to making an account lol. When I was younger, I identified with the demiromantic label but I had never been in a relationship, so I had dropped it. But since I broke up with my first (and maybe only?) girlfriend about seven months ago, I've done some like introspecting I guess? I think this is a good place for me, I think I'm probably on the aromantic spectrum. I don't know where yet and I don't really want to rush into any labels anymore, I've had enough of that for myself lol. Anyways, I'm very glad to be here!!!!