I'm doing an Arospec talk next week!

[Louis On Air]

So I asked my friend who runs the LGBT club at my school if I could do a talk on Aromanticism next week. He said yes. Now I need stuff to bring up. I'm gonna explain what Aromantic Greyromantic Demiromantic and Lithromantic are (also ace, grey ace, Autosexual and demi-ace) but what else should I mention?

[breaddd]

I would explain squishes and QPRs

Maybe explain romance favorable/indifferent/repulsed aros

 

Good luck!

[Louis On Air]

1 hour ago, breaddd said:

I would explain squishes and QPRs

Maybe explain romance favorable/indifferent/repulsed aros

 

Good luck!

Thanks, I've done public speaking before but now I'll have to explain an alien concept that's hard to wrap your head around at first (like 4D geometry) so yeah, the luck you've designated me shall go towards a good audience.

[Vega]

I'd start just with the concept of romantic vs. sexual orientation in general, since it seems like a foreign subject to many people. 

 

I second explaining QPRs, as well as any other kinds of aromantic relationships. 

[Cassiopeia]

Yes, QPRs and also amatonormativity and how it affects everyday life.

 

You could maybe show them a diagram of the spectrums? That is quite easy to present visually.

[Spud]

I would make sure not to overload people with information and maybe just try to get the basics down before you go into more detail or else it will get confusing. I think using anecdotes is usually a good way to get people's attention and clarify things, too. You can look up informative videos on aromanticism/asexuality for more ideas on how to present the information.

[Louis On Air]

16 minutes ago, Spud said:

I would make sure not to overload people with information and maybe just try to get the basics down before you go into more detail or else it will get confusing. I think using anecdotes is usually a good way to get people's attention and clarify things, too. You can look up informative videos on aromanticism/asexuality for more ideas on how to present the information.

Ok, I think I'll focus on just Aro, Grey, Demi & Lithromantic but not more. Also I'll definitely use anecdotes to explain it. There are a lot of super technical things I could say but I'll stick to that, amatonormativity and Squish/QPRs. Also I'll take questions because that is a useful tool.

[DannyFenton123]

Awesome! Good luck :ice cream:

[Vega]

Also, probably point people toward resources they can look at if they want to learn more about aromanticism. 

[Louis On Air]

Just now, Vega said:

Also, probably point people toward resources they can look at if they want to learn more about aromanticism. 

Yes, there are lots of terms that people can find to describe themselves and that is quite important. Also I'll mention here and say "tell them Louis sent you"

[aihpen]

If you want to mention lithromantic, then I wouldn't just name one definition because if I remember right (it's been a while since I did my research on it) there are a lot of different kind of lithromantics out there. For someone it might be that their crushes fade away and for someone else that they get crushes, but don't want to act on them and for someone else it might be different again. (Someone please correct me if any of that was wrong, as I said it's been a while)

[Blue Phoenix Ace]

Lithromanticism is when you get romantic feelings for someone but they fade when reciprocated by that same person. A lithro- might be comfortable in a relationship with an aro- who doesn't mind the romantic attention, and doesn't reciprocate.

 

The degree at which it fades can vary, hence the various shades of it. It may be as simple as you lose interest instantly when they flirt back or more gradual like it takes weeks after the first kiss for the feelings to fade.

 

4 hours ago, aihpen said:

For someone it might be that their crushes fade away and for someone else that they get crushes, but don't want to act on them and for someone else it might be different again.

 

These would be good definitions for grey-romanticism. The key difference between grey and lith is that reciprocation triggers the fading of the feelings for lith, whereas for grey the reciprocation is not necessarily there.

 

And technically, to be an "absolute zero" aro, you should never even feel crushes at all.

[46odnetnin]

I think emphasizing that there is as always a spectrum to this, much like the kinsey scale (hetero to homosexual)

[aihpen]

4 hours ago, Blue Phoenix Ace said:

Lithromanticism is when you get romantic feelings for someone but they fade when reciprocated by that same person. A lithro- might be comfortable in a relationship with an aro- who doesn't mind the romantic attention, and doesn't reciprocate.

 

The degree at which it fades can vary, hence the various shades of it. It may be as simple as you lose interest instantly when they flirt back or more gradual like it takes weeks after the first kiss for the feelings to fade.

 

 

These would be good definitions for grey-romanticism. The key difference between grey and lith is that reciprocation triggers the fading of the feelings for lith, whereas for grey the reciprocation is not necessarily there.

 

And technically, to be an "absolute zero" aro, you should never even feel crushes at all.

Ok thanks. That makes sense  

[Cassiopeia]

4 hours ago, 46odnetnin said:

I think emphasizing that there is as always a spectrum to this, much like the kinsey scale (hetero to homosexual)

Yes please, lets keep that. That holier than thou attitude is so harmful for all queer identities. We don't need this internal goldstar brawl to justify or identities, especially not with the compulsory heterosexuality and amatonormativity we have to shake off.

[Mark]

On 15/04/2016 at 4:59 PM, Louis Hypo said:

So I asked my friend who runs the LGBT club at my school if I could do a talk on Aromanticism next week. He said yes. Now I need stuff to bring up. I'm gonna explain what Aromantic Greyromantic Demiromantic and Lithromantic are (also ace, grey ace, Autosexual and demi-ace) but what else should I mention?

 

Briefly explain the concept of "romantic orientation". That it usually corresponds with someone's sexual orientation this is not always the case. Someone with differing romantic and sexual orientations can find themselves confused about either or both.

Amatonormativity and how it just dosn't make sense to aros. Nor should aros have to feel like "second class citizens", but can do so because of the expectations of amatonormativity.

A very important thing is to get across that aromantic people are not "unloving".