DeltaAro

Duh… am I the only one? In Demon’s Souls Remake I play the game with a thief character called “Aro Aromanticus” – with green hair… sadly assassin isn’t available as a starting class!

I guess that I’m speaking for all those people out of the loop: What is OC? Original character?

I don’t notice a difference regarding squishes for me, it depends on personality, maybe age to a minor degree, but not gender. But I still notice gender in general. I mean girls / women are on average more emotionally open, which I strongly prefer.

Aromantic, demiromantic, etc. are really just label that are supposed to help you in communicating how you feel and to create a sense of community, or a relief to know that there are other people who feel like you. But if you identify with a label, you still wake up the next morning as the same person. The decisions you make OTOH make a concrete difference. Like: Do I want to make further attempts at a romantic relationship? Theoretically, theoretically if you do not, you may miss the love of your life! IDK in your case. Personally after a long period of doubt I don’t regret that I just 100% removed the romo-part from my life. Contrary to all the cultural programming, I simply do not miss it at all. I like to get “friend-zoned”. But I also 100% know that I would regret never having sex.

you get an F. You cannot simply pick all Marvel movies when asked about your favorite movie!! you’re someone who would fly off the Bridge of Death over the Gorge of Eternal Peril.

Catholic sexual morality is basically completely detached from modern life. This is not meant as a value judgment. I just state a fact. Masturbation, contraception, extramarital sex, homosexuality and so on, are all mortal sins. The prohibitions are so strict you'd expect them from a high-control religious group. I mean they’re indeed even more strict than that. Even Jehovah’s Witnesses still allow contraception. Even the most fundamentalist and traditional Islamic schools have a more permissive attitude towards masturbation (it’s a sin – but not one that potentially merits eternal damnation). So the Catholic Church is really odd. I mean the rules are extreme, but there are 1,3 billion Catholics on this planet. So high control is not possible. And the result is that obviously most do not care and it’s regarded as a moderate religion. Now for all those faults, romance doesn’t play a big role in the Catholicism. There are basically no rules about what marriage should be like, as long as you follow all the rules about … basically … sex. While today a marriage without romantic attraction would be regarded as “wrong” / deeply dysfunctional.

oh god, I just hate that… it also happens irl… it must be some weird alloromo thing, that only they do notice. I felt sooo excluded. “tHe wAY sHe LoOkS aT hIm !!” – yes????? how??? I don‘t notice anything!

Yoda would great. “If you do not know crush, aro you may be” But: The Walt Disney Company owns the copyright for Yoda. Free Yoda!!! Yoda would be more like a mascot. Yoda is not a pride animal!

bunny (1) [no letters shared, Sailor Moon’s name is Bunny Tsukino]

I don’t think I have any kinks … I mean nothing that’s clearly a kink. Either it’s a sort of sexual preference (I don’t need to go into the details, but if it’s like “I like <this> or <that> and it involves the primary sex organs” I don’t think it is a kink). Or that I get turned by some unusual aesthetics… (for whatever reason it is fashion no-gos, e. g. nylons & peeptoes).

who knows…?

Of course. I don’t claim that aros have less empathy in general. It was just about aros’ empathy for alloromantics when it comes to their romantic issues. Wouldn’t we assume it is at least somewhat reduced? Empathy means to experience a situation from another person’s perspective. If you do not feel and never felt romantic emotions, you cannot in your imagination recreate the sequence of emotional states which play out in romance situations. This must be some sort of an obstacle. We may still empathize using analogies, metaphors, etc., but it would be in a roundabout way. This board also confirms this: many posts here express their bewilderment about romance. And that’s not restricted to silly contemporary traditions, but the very basics of romance. Still not a “lack of understanding” in the manner like we might not understand why 0.9999999… = 1. We probably all intellectually understand romance as a rule-based behavior. But empathy seems to be a bit lacking.

We have loads and loads of slippery & vague terms in the discussion – like romantic attraction. But at least the problems with these terms are kind of well known. Now you put the focus on another extremely ambiguous term: to understand. “Understand” has, very broadly, at least two fundamentally different meanings: To intellectually understand – to know how something works, or why To empathize; or more narrowly to be sympathetic or tolerant towards something “Understanding romance” in the manner of (1.) is likely not at all rare for aros. It is more common for us to not “understand” romance in the manner of (2.). Here the connection is obvious: other humans feel a type of emotion that is completely alien to me as an aro – so obviously it is difficult to me to empathize. Still if you can empathize regardless, it does not mean you are not aro. That inference would be quite ridiculous. E. g. nobody thinks you need to be gay to empathize with the problems a gay couple has!

Not even a favorite soundtrack?

I believe that if you’re wondering if you feel romantic attraction or not, you do not. It’s too strong, too obvious, too unique.

I don’t know if “skolios” is supposed to refer to trans people here, or the people who are attracted to them, or the mode of attraction. Who or what is bent? But then “skolios” also means “perverse” in Greek which is hardly better. Aside from the problematic etymological connections (which are largely unknown) I think the biggest problem is that “skoliosexual” just reminds everyone of a medical condition of the spine.

so cute!! I love cats!

I kind of like it if it is absolutely over the top and truly absurd. Like Excel from Excel Saga crushing on Lord Ilpalazzo, who becomes so annoyed at her that he constantly “trapdoor’es” her. Or in Black Clover fifteen-year old Asta professing his love to Lily Aquaria, who is a nun in her mid-twenties – but he just doesn’t give up. If it becomes somewhat realistic it’s just plain old schadenfreude. And for whatever reason “romantically challenged people” are still an acceptable target.

Don’t worry, I don’t care that much about your personal opinion / lifestyle here. Drug policy is just a very interesting topic.

Personally I really do not care about gender – so maybe I’m wrong… but even as an outsider I think one MAJOR issue here is that the people who do care would rather not want their bodies to be seen as inherently gendered. There is a term for being sexually attracted to people who are not cisgender, which would be skoliosexual. But honestly this one sounds rather bad… reminds me of scoliosis.

if that’s already kinky then what is vanilla?

Did you ever insert any aro references in video game customization? Like you created an aro character, an aro empire, etc? I played Stellaris with a fanatic xenophile, egalitarian democratic empire called “Aromantic Alliance”. Empire emblem gray-green with an arrow-like symbol. For the species I took humans but renamed them to “Aros”. Home system / planet is Sol / Earth but renamed to “Aronia”.

I strictly 100% buy vegan. But on some rare occasions I eat animal products because refusing it would cause a big drama…

Alcohol itself doesn’t really have a taste, it just burns. There are thousands of different alcoholic drinks in the world and it depends on the non-alcohol content how they taste. You can’t compare drugs that easily. Tobacco in the form of the modern cigarette is … well you know, highly addictive. Alcohol OTOH is the oldest recreational drug, so humanity has some experiences with it… It’s a rather dull drug, though. Alcohol (ethanol) is an extremely simple molecule, that just causes a nonspecific effect of your brain going haywire. You also need an ENORMOUS amount of ethanol to feel an effect. We’re talking 20 grams here. That amount of nearly any other recreational drug – including caffeine – would kill you.

While not being able to commit (romantically) is not identical with being aromantic, it’s closely related… both can be true. But no need to judge yourself so negatively / as “broken”. I also do not really DESIRE a follow-up, it’s just very convenient because it would be a truly EXTREME hassle to find and adjust to a new partner EVERY time … I’d go crazy…