How do you want to see the aromantic community grow?

[roboticanary]

There have been a couple of articles posted on AUREA recently which basically get people to respond to the question of how they would like to see the aro community change and grow.

https://www.aromanticism.org/en/news-feed/my-aromantic-community-part-2

https://www.aromanticism.org/en/news-feed/my-aromantic-community-part-1

I'm wondering if there is anything people here would want to add. What do you think of the suggestions people offered? How do you want to see the community change? How would you like to see it grow?

[nonmerci]

It was an interesting read. I agree with everything. It would be nice indeed to have more people in the community and that it is more visible. And of course that all kind of aros feel welcome in it. It always hurt when I see one says that they face exclusion in their own community. 

[Rook on the Hook]

I agree with pretty much everything mentioned, though some things I'd like to see that didn't get mentioned much (if at all):

-More in-person networks of support. There are so few in-person aro events and groups to begin with, and of those, even fewer are focused around providing resources and aid to each other. Given that singleness is still very challenging to navigate, both socially and financially, in many places I feel there is a real need, and while I haven't been able to find any statistics on aro youths, if we assume that they overlap enough and are comparable with those of ace youths... yeah... it's not good, given that ace youths have a greater prevalence of anxiety and depression and a comparable suicide risk compared with LGBT+ youth in general (https://www.thetrevorproject.org/research-briefs/asexual-and-ace-spectrum-youth/) . Especially given how AGGRESSIVELY amatonormative teen culture is and the pervasive message among teenagers (at least here in the U.S.) that your worth and likability are determined by whether you can get a romantic partner and that you are a worthless failure, I think it might even be harder for aro youths than ace youths, and between the invisibility of the aro community and the complete and utter lack of aro-specific resources and aid in the offline world, I worry for their mental health.

-More uplifting of voices from non-Western/EuroAmerican cultures and voices of PoC aros and arospecs, alongside greater acknowledgement of how much our conceptions and definitions of what it means to be aromantic are deeply rooted in an often very white, western worldview. Furthermore, more educational information and resources in languages other than English, and, ideally, in formats that are accessible to people who might not have internet access. I want perspectives on and experiences of aromanticism from all over the world, and I want to understand the challenges that come from being aro in various cultures