Moth Lady

While I don’t have any experiences with people purposefully not acknowledging the arospectrum, I have experience with the consequences of that. I was talking to some of my friends about being aro and one of them questioned me, asking "Doesn’t aro mean you don’t experience attraction at all?" While he accepted it when I explained it’s a spectrum, it just sucks that people don’t understand that, more often than not, things like this are always on a spectrum. And because I don’t feel like explaining this to people all the time, my aromantic identity isn’t something I share as much with people anymore. I’m just tired of having to explain it.

I'm number three, but I could also be number seven or number six

I am definitely aromantic, because I barely ever feel romantic attraction, but I have felt it before. Thing is, I know I could identify with greyromantic or another label on that spectrum, but I kind of don't feel like it. I usually just say I'm aro, and say I experience very little romantic attraction when asked further. Does anyone else use aro like this?

I don't see an issue with identifying with it, especially since you are aware that others would rather not be identified with it. You're good :)

In my closer friendships I happen to be a very touchy person. I can hug my friends, hold hands with them... I generally show affection through different types of touch. This is where it might get a little confusing. Even though I am aro, I am open to dating someone if they want to, but it would probably be very similar to being my friend, with the only exception being kissing. I don't kiss friends, haha. I guess for me the line is just the one action, because everything else that might be percieved as romantic are things I'm not interested in. In that sense, you might say the line is kissing, but I think the real line is just that I choose to call that relationship romantic and the other ones platonic. It's all about the mindset in my case.

Welcome! Glad to have you here :)

It's alright, my misunderstanding ^^

I feel very free knowing I don't have a need for a partner. I also have more time for my other relationships, and I can build deep and caring relations with my friends and family. It's something I really appreciate, because I love connecting with people and being there for them. At the same time, I have a found a new sense of individuality and independance. I don't feel like I "need" another person in my life to rely on anymore. (Obviously, it's not bad to have someone to rely on, I just don't know how else to phrase it.) I've felt the positivity of the community and I feel very welcome and recognized here. It's one of the best perks in my opinion, because it felt very lonely to not care about romance like others around me have and still do. Now I just listen, and try to understand while being able to recognize and accept that it just doesn't feel the same for me and that's okay.

I only realized I was aroace recently, so this experience might be different for me, but I've never felt excluded from the lgbtq+ community. I went to pride a few days ago, and I definitely felt included and loved there. It might help that I am also trans, but I don't think I would be seen as less queer if I wasn't.

Agreed, and welcome! I am new myself, but I feel like everyone deserves a good welcome wagon ;D

If this is a response to my comment, I think there's a misunderstanding. What I meant is that it all happens subconciously, I was just trying to simplify and make sense of how attraction works. I understand if I worded it poorly, though, it's not something I can easily put into words.

I can understand this a lot. I tend to feel a lot of aesthetic and sensual attraction, so I do feel the need to get close to people, but I don't want to date them. Usually when I thought I'd had crushes, I only thought the person was pretty and wanted to be close to them. Attraction can be confusing like that lol, unfortunately I think I've sent my fair share of wrong signals because of it.

Very late to the party, but I have a response: I think one way it might work is if someone has different types depending on the gender. If they like girls who are more athletic for example, but prefer if men aren't. So for the people who were only attracted to women, they just wouldn't find any type of man attractive. I'm not really sure if that makes sense outside of my own head, but I hope it might have helped a little.

I have a few: Jayfeather, Warrior Cats: aroace Jumin Han, Mystic Messenger: demiro Seven, Mystic Messenger: demiro, ace Papyrus, Undertale: aroace Chiaki Nanami, Danganronpa: aroace