Jump to content

which orientation do you feel more sure about, your romantic or sexual one?


Holmbo

Recommended Posts

sexual. sexual attraction is easy, i just look at women and go "wow so hot".

i'm becoming more and more sure of my romantic attraction but it's much less tangible than sexual. it's this state of "could happen but i won't know if it can til it does" but this, in my experience is a good sign in the direction of "yeah it probably won't tho to be fair". it's something I had to learn back when i labled myself as bi, just in case i ever fall for a guy which in retrospect is pretty silly

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, root22 said:

it's this state of "could happen but i won't know if it can til it does" but this, in my experience is a good sign in the direction of "yeah it probably won't tho to be fair".

that was how coming to identify as aro went for me too.  like yeah, to address which is more "certain", you could argue, well, wanting to bang dudes is something i do actually experience, whereas wanting to date them is not...so far.  but let's be real, only aphobic people argue that.  i don't see people saying i can't be sure of my disinterest in getting stabbed.  

  • Like 2
  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I'm much more certain about my romantic orientation than sexual. Just the idea of being in a romantic relationship makes my skin crawl.

On the other hand, I enjoy certain sexual activities... but the concept of being bodily involved with another person kills any enthusiasm for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...
On 7/6/2022 at 7:01 AM, dewy said:

Definitely sexual orientation. Like someone else here said, it's less nebulous of a concept. I am also a romance favorable aro so that makes me feel a bit unsure.

For me aesthetic attraction is just "oh, they're pretty" and with sexual attraction I might feel arousal and/or think about doing ~things~. They are connected though, best way I can explain it is like this. Please be nice to the diagram, I rushed it. Untitled598_20220705162456.png.97ebacbe5de732d3295b7deddd02fbf4.png

no worries about the graph lol, it makes sense. yeah i'd say most of the attraction i feel is purely aesthetic but occasionally it does overlap with the sexual side.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know. I mean I associate more with the aromantic community than with the asexual one, but that's because I think and talk about romantic attraction more often. So if I had to choose, it would've been my romantic orientation, although I'm not sure. 

Edited by Keith
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm pretty sure about my sexuality... romantic orientation, like 95% sure. I think that I still feel the need to fit into the framework of dating in order to get people to not assume that "aromantic" means lacking emotions and empathy though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The topic is dated, but I'm going to answer.

I've newly came in as quoiromantic, but I've always been certain to be heterosexual. I've never questioned my sexuality, because I've known the word "heterosexual" since I entered teenage and it suits me perfectly. But I discovered romantic attraction, the aromantic spectrum and all of the things related to it just 2 years ago thanks to a video on Youtube, and began to interest myself to it a couple of days ago only. I've never really doubted of who I am, it's something I've been aware of since I'm old enough to think of it that romance was a weird thing to me and it didn't appeal to me, but, unconsciously, maybe did I try to fit in the small boxes of amatonormativity. Moreover, everytime I read a book containing romantic passages, or watch a movie with explicitely romantic scenes and a description of the characters' feelings for each other, except when it can be interpretated as sexual, I feel queasy. I feel sometimes even sick, like a discomfort in my stomach. Since it's considered abnormal to be repulsed by romance, I tried to forget it, but denying this part of me led to internal conflict. I thought I had a problem. Why would I be repulsed by something everyone loves, talks about and looks for ? It's still uneasy to explain my repulsion to others, as I don't really understand myself the reason.s why I experience this, the only thing I can say is that it makes me queasy when one of the main characters of a book/movie starts describing their own romantic feelings towards another character. I don't rely on it, and as I'm trying to look for identification in most books I get and read, I feel a disconnection, a huge gap between me and the character I had been identifying with. It's really strange. However, I'm not romance-repulsed when I see a couple hugging or kissing, or even when I read romantic scenes in books which do not involve a personal description of one's feelings, but exterior acts seen as "romantic" by alloromantic people, without any subjectivity of the characters concerning these acts, because I feel them more like sexual things. Perhaps is my post confusing, and I apologize for this, but, at least, it translates my own confusion.

So, to answer the question, I've always been both sure of my sexuality and romantic orientation, but this last one is inherently complicated.

Edited by Themathlover
Link to comment
Share on other sites

While it fluctuates, I feel closer to aromatic than asexual. Still, getting in a sexual relationship would be no less of a leap than just a romantic one. I can develop squishes more easily, and I experience aesthetic attraction. But being drawn into a sexual or romantic relationship? That takes a lot of time and unwavering trust and positive feelings.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

it depends. As far as being aspec goes, I'm more sure of my romantic orientation than my sexual orientation. My general lack of romantic attraction is consistent and sure, but my amount of sexual attraction fluctuates too much to be totally sure if I'm allo, ace, or something in between. When it comes to what genders I'm attracted to, though, I'm much more sure of my sexuality because my sexual attraction is more clear than my romantic attraction. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hm, interesting question! I'm pretty darn sure I'm not into romance or at the very least, grey aro, but sexuality wise it's harder to find a label. For me, grey ace with no gender preference gets it done (I suppose pansexual also works for the last part with the whole preference thing, but I find no gender preference to be clearer).  Even if the exact labels aren't there, I'm 99% sure I'm on the aroace spectrum somewhere.

Edited by SilentShadows
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...