#aromantics

I really liked how ISAT worked Mirabelle's whole deal with aromanticism/asexuality into the story. Like--it's not just a blink-and-you-miss-it one time mention. I can hear people I know in how important romantic relationships are to the people around her and how she feels they're supposed to be for her. I can hear these people in how appalled she is at the idea that her earrings could potentially be a cultural sort of preparation for married life later. I can also hear them in how charmed she is by reading fictional romances, even if some parts don't connect for her, because so many aces and aros still enjoy reading smut and romances. She and Isa gush about helping that bonded house-person deliver that bond-earing thing! It's different for each person, but sometimes stories can have enough comfortable distance in them that it's possible to enjoy things you'd hate trying to actually live out yourself. At the same time, though, when she finally talks about romance and having kids herself--I haven't seen this everywhere, but sometimes I have, and sometimes people just fucking know concretely and completely that something will never appeal to them, and that's familiar too, and...

Getting angry at someone for disliking Valentine’s Day is incredibly amatonormative behavior that normalizes the idea that everyone has to enjoy romance in a specific way.

This is giving me major aro vibes 🐸💚