Into the Wilds

sure , to my knowledge we're not directly focused on by homophobic groups ( thanks for the clarification @/plum-petunia !! ) . but society is still extremely against the mere existence of those who don't feel certain types of love .

i was venting to a friend about being aroace and she asked me " why don't you just not be aroace ? "

people say " aromantic / asexual / aroace people can still date !! " and then refuse to engage with the nuances of an ace/arospec relationship

so many people i've told about being aroace all say " well , you're not gonna be aroace forever , right ? "

hell being asexual didn't stop being considered a mental illness until 2013

the only representation of aro/aspec people in media are cold villains or are "innocent" and "pure" , and even THAT rep is taken away

romance is viewed as better than all else . every conversation is about romance . nothing sells without romance

people can't conceptualise a relationship with romance without sex . people can't conceptualise a relationship without romance with sex . people can't conceptualise having no desire for a relationship with romance or sex .

society doesn't treat us as people worthy of respect . people dont care enough to represent us properly .

We are doing something. We’re rejecting allonormative ideals and that’s a massive thing to do. We’re actively fighting not just to help other aspecs, but to help everyone, because amatonormativity (and allonormativity as a whole) hurt everyone. Single people who want to find a partner but can’t also deserve to be able to exist.

There are so many issues with the expectation of marriage, including:

A single income isn't enough to get by anymore

Having a spouse is almost necessary under the current medical system

Society shames and pressures people who are single to get into relationships constantly

Rejecting allonormativity means fighting against these things that hurt everyone.

"There's an old legend that a silverwood once fell in love with a witch..."

Dancing picture continue with the pookiest of pookies - that's a lie, they all are the pookiest pookies. I was fairly nervous about this one because I was afraid it would look boring compared to the others because of the more limited pallet.

AROMANTIC PEOPLE

ASEXUAL PEOPLE

AND AROACE PEOPLE

ALL BELONG IN THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY

Gatekeeping is cruel and dangerous. It can deny people a community, it can invalidate their identity and it can also lead to severe mental health consequences. It took me until I was 38 (get off my lawn you whippersnappers) until I came to terms with my asexuality as I didn’t realize it was a valid sexual orientation as I was terrified of it’s stigma and association with mental illness. It took a cunty little vampire in a super popular video game who struggles with intimacy and boundaries around bodily autonomy -albeit for reasons very different from my own- to feel seen. (BG3 fans if you know, you know 😆). I then went down the magical rabbit hole of research and discovered some incredible asexual educators and activists.