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bloompawz Ā· 6 hours
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Reworking the A/Grey/Allo/Orchid Attraction System
As it stands currently, the a-spectrum encompasses any identity involving little or no attraction. This includes all grey orientations by default. The allo spectrum is treated as less of a spectrum, but more of a term for people who arenā€™t a-spec or grey. I think that this ultimately ends up being confusing, and could use some reworking.
(Some people might be getting a little anxious about where I'm going with this, especially if you're greysexual/demisexual/etc, so I want to make it clear right away: This rework is not designed to invalidate or exclude you.)
I keep seeing the a-spec get stretched to encompass more and more experiences, such as meneromantic: a term for people who experience romantic attraction easily, but prefer not to act on it unless they think their crush will reciprocateā€¦ Which just describes how most alloromantic people approach their attraction.
This was described as an ā€œaro-specā€ orientation, and as an aromantic person, I feel like that misses the point of the spectrum completely. I admit, it is a pretty niche term, and isnā€™t the end of the world, but itā€™s a symptom of a larger problem.
Itā€™s becoming clear, at least to me, that people are unsure how to draw the line between a-spec and allo, due to the subjectivity of what ā€œlittle attractionā€ even is, to the point of both terms becoming less meaningful over time. I donā€™t even know where Iā€™m supposed to fit among those terms myself, at least when it comes to sexual attraction. Iā€™ve actually opted not to label my sexuality largely for that reason; itā€™s why Iā€™m a neu aro.
So I wanted to take a shot at proposing a change. Not for the sake of excluding or assimilating, but for the sake of making attraction/orientations more easy to navigate and explore, especially for people who are questioning. I made an effort to make this rework as inclusive as possible, while also being much more clearly understood. If you experience attraction and identify as a-spec, donā€™t worry! The rework still includes you; it just includes you in terms which are easier to define.
A-spec
The a-spectrum, under the rework, includes any identity which is defined by zero attraction, as well as experiences adjacent to that. In other words, if a person experiences absolutely no sexual attraction, no romantic attraction, and/or no tertiary attraction, they are a-spec. This includes:
Asexual: Experiencing zero sexual attraction, or having an adjacent experience to this.
Aromantic: Experiencing zero romantic attraction, or having an adjacent experience to this.
Aplatonic: Experiencing zero platonic attraction, or having an adjacent experience to this.
Cupio: Experiencing zero (sexual/romantic/platonic/etc.) attraction, but desiring a relationship commonly associated with that attraction anyway. For example, desiring a sexual relationship as an asexual person.
Apothi: Experiencing zero (sexual/romantic/platonic/etc.) attraction, and feeling repulsed by relationships and/or activities associated with that attraction. For example, being asexual and sex-repulsed.
Icula: Experiencing zero (sexual/romantic/platonic/etc.) attraction, but being open to relationships/activities commonly associated with that attraction anyway. For example, being asexual and open to sex.
Etc.
ā€œExperiences adjacent to thatā€ refers to anyone who doesnā€™t necessarily experience zero attraction, but still:
Feels strongly represented by a-spec identities/experiences.
Strongly relates to a-spec identities/experiences.
Needs access to a-spec resources, communities, and support.
Finds it easy, useful, and/or helpful to identify as a-spec, especially as opposed to not identifying as a-spec.
Finds oneā€™s attraction to be irrelevant to oneā€™s life, either because itā€™s so vague or infrequent that it has no impact, because one has negative interest in acting on it, or because oneā€™s attraction otherwise has no relevance.
Note that ā€œexperiencing little attractionā€ is not a qualifier on its own, because whatā€™s ā€œlittleā€ is entirely subjective, and can be incredibly difficult to define. Note that you do not have to check each bullet point in the list above to be a-spec; just one is enough.
Greysexuality, greyromanticism, etc. can be a-spec, but these identities are not a-spec by default. It depends on the individual, their own experiences, and how they define/feel about their own identity.
Grey-spec
The grey spectrum, under the rework, includes any identity which doesnā€™t fit neatly into an a-or-allo binary. This includes:
People who arenā€™t sure whether theyā€™re a-spec or allo-spec.
People who resonate with both a-spec and allo-spec identities/experiences.
People who resonate with neither a-spec nor allo-spec identities/experiences.
People whose identities are in constant flux, and thus difficult or impossible to pinpoint as a-spec or allo-spec.
People who fit into the a-spec category, but feel like the a-spec category is still insufficient in some way.
People who fit into the allo-spec category, but feel like the allo-spec category is still insufficient in some way.
People who feel like they fit somewhere between ā€œexperiencing attractionā€ and ā€œnot experiencing attractionā€ in some way.
Anyone else who canā€™t or wonā€™t fit themselves into an a-or-allo binary.
Greysexuality, greyromanticism, etc. can be a-spec and/or allo-spec, but these identities are not either by default. It depends on the individual, their own experiences, and how they define/feel about their own identity.
I think this is a much needed change, not just because this is easier to define than figuring out what ā€œlittle attractionā€ means, but because grey-specs donā€™t always want to be pigeonholed into being a-spec by default. It is a grey area, after all.
Allo-spec
The allo spectrum, under the rework, includes any identity in which one experiences attraction, no matter how much or how little. This includes:
People who experience little attraction.
People who experience a moderate amount of attraction.
People who experience a lot of attraction.
Iā€™ve decided to include all experiences of present attraction in this spectrum because it can be extremely hard (or impossible) to quantify how much attraction you experience in comparison to other people. If you experience attraction, it isnā€™t necessarily going to be clear whether you experience a lot or a little or something between. Including all present attraction under the allo-spec, no matter the amount, makes it much easier to define where you fall within these spectra.
Greysexuality, greyromanticism, etc. can be allo-spec, but these identities are not allo-spec by default. It depends on the individual, their own experiences, and how they define/feel about their own identity.
Orchid-spec
This is an additional spectrum for people who experience attraction, but do not want to act on that attraction. For example, an orchidsexual person experiences sexual attraction, but does not want to have sex under any circumstances.
I didnā€™t come up with this spectrum, but Iā€™ve decided to include it here, because a person may feel that orchid-spec is the only spectrum that feels relevant to their experience, with a/grey/allo being completely irrelevant or inapplicable. Though, a person may resonate with orchid-spec in addition to other spectra, which is also valid!
Overlapping spectra
All spectra within this proposed system can overlap in some instances.
For example, if a person experiences attraction, but feels strongly represented by a-spec identities, they could be a combination of a-spec, grey-spec, and allo-spec. They might identify with one spectrum more than the others, but they would be included in all three.
As another example, a person may fall under all four spectra, because:
Their attraction is irrelevant to them, so they identify as a-spec.
They relate to both a-spec and allo-spec, so they identify as grey-spec.
They experience attraction, so they identify as allo-spec.
They donā€™t want to act on their attraction, so they identify as orchid-spec.
A person might also identify as both grey-spec and a-spec, but not allo-spec, because they donā€™t know whether they experience attraction or not, but they relate to a-spec identities and experiences.
Another person might fall under both allo-spec and grey-spec, but not a-spec, because they experience attraction, but feel that the allo-spec is insufficient to describe their identity, while also not resonating with the a-spec at all.
These are just a few examples of how spectra could possibly overlap. There are other ways that these spectra could be combined which have not been listed here.
And of course, it's up to you how you identify! I just wanted to propose a system which (hopefully) makes attraction easier to understand and navigate.
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bloompawz Ā· 8 hours
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I assume that this means I could probably use the label as the intended by the definition, but I still want to ask:
Does this mean aroqueer could describe me? My aromanticism is definitely the part of my orientation that I'm most sure about, and it's a big part of my queerness. I probably post about being aromantic more than anything else just because of how important it is to me.
I prefer to just describe my orientation as aromantic* and/or queer most of the time. Sometimes I'll use other terms (e.g. sapphic, diamoric, bambi) to describe my orientation, but they're not my preferred labels generally. I've been pondering using aroqueer to describe myself but wasn't sure if it fits, since I do occasionally use other labels for my orientation.
*Or aro, or neu aro
I've been flip flopping through labels for a while. I've recently concluded that I'm happiest just calling myself aromantic and queer. Sapphic as well sometimes, in some contexts. Sprinkling in some diamoric here and there because being nonbinary makes the gay/straight dichotomy confusing or inapplicable.
^ something I said earlier today on a different post
I'm questioning and I think I might be Aroqueer but I can't seem to find much on it, can you help me out??
Hi!
The definition of aroqueer is "an identity for anyone on the aro spectrum whose aromanticism is the most prominent or most well understood part their orientation".
In other words, an aromantic person who feels that aromanticism is the most important part of their identity, while the rest is something they can just describe as queer. Maybe they just don't know how to describe their orientation other than aromantic, maybe they could further define their orientation but they don't want to. An aroqueer person is someone whose aromanticism is fundamental part of their queerness, and the two things cannot be divided.
Unfortunately I can't find a lot of material on it aside from what's around on tumblr, and even that isn't much. It's a new-ish label I believe, and not very known yet. The term was coined by @autcore, so taking a look through xyr blog might help.
Good luck!
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bloompawz Ā· 12 hours
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regular plea for people to stop using this as a reaction image
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[ID: A white man in a suit who is saying, "Now this might strike some viewers as harsh, but I believe everyone involved in this story should die". End ID]
this is a real sentence that was said by a during an snl skit by the guy in the picture (norm macdonald) in response to a real news story - specifically, the murder of brandon teena, a trans man, whose death macdonald is mocking here. this very sentence that has now been turned into a meme prompted a trans rights org to picket the nbc in absence of any apology from them (the statement here slightly misquotes the sentence, but you can find video demonstrating that the wording in the image is what he said). i've used this as a reaction image in the past when i didn't know the history behind it but i think more people should know and we should stop using it like this
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bloompawz Ā· 14 hours
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I relate to this a lot. I'm pangender and transmasc. I'm attracted to women and nonbinary people. And not nonbinary people in the "feminine" or "woman-lite" way, but in the "spectrum of many different experiences and genders" way. I'm still honestly a bit confused about my feelings regarding binary men, but I at the very least have a strong hesitance towards them.
I've been flip flopping through labels for a while. I've recently concluded that I'm happiest just calling myself aromantic and queer. Sapphic as well sometimes, in some contexts. Sprinkling in some diamoric here and there because being nonbinary makes the gay/straight dichotomy confusing or inapplicable.
I'm stilling trying to figure out exactly how I feel. On top of that, HRT can sometimes change how people's orientations work, so second puberty might be making my attraction a bit turbulent. But the word "queer" has never failed me, so I'm at least finding comfort in that.
Anyway, I know it can kinda suck to feel pigeonholed into defining your attraction in concrete and simple terms. Sometimes it's just complicated. Good luck figuring out what works best for you, whether that involves specific labels, looser labels, or none at all
I think Iā€™ve talked abt it before on this blog. But being multigender makes trying to label your sexuality so hard. Am I straight? Lesbian? Bisexual? I donā€™t know.
I barely have it figured out if Iā€™m attracted to binary men or not. Iā€™m not gonna try to figure out if Im a lesbian or straight this is too confusing .
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bloompawz Ā· 17 hours
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enough stories about how someone learns to truely be happy through love. i want a story where someone is desperately seeking out love thinking it's the only way to be happy only for them to learn by the end that happiness is what they make of it and they don't need love at all to make it.
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bloompawz Ā· 2 days
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[Image ID: A screenshot from a parent who says, "I promised my son a PS5 if he got straight A's and he did, but I don't want to give him a PS5. What should I do?" End ID]
A lot of parents don't seem to understand that promises to their kids work both ways. If you want your kid to be productive with their school work, chores, etc. they need an incentive to do so, and you need to hold true to your promises. You need to build trust with your kid. If you don't, then what reason do they have to listen to you? They have zero reason to trust your input.
Kids are people too. They're complex individuals with their own thoughts and needs, and your actions as a parent will impact them for the rest of their lives. You need to care about maintaining their trust and upholding your promises.
A few weeks ago, my mom complained about my younger brother refusing to do anything on his own. Now, I know how it is over there. I know how they (don't) parent him, and I know how they (don't) spend time with him. Before I moved out, I felt like I was more of a parent to him than either of his actual parents, and I'm not supposed to be. We're brothers.
It's true that he doesn't really do things on his own. Like, "Can you put away the stuff on the counter?" is answered with "No" or "I won't unless you put some of it away too."
That's not good, because it's important to be capable of self sufficiency. He won't even wash himself a spoon if he needs one. But you can't sit around complaining and expect things to change. He's a little kid, and it's his parents' job to guide him. So, I gave some advice.
I told them that they need to set up a rewards system so he has an incentive to do stuff on his own. They said "he doesn't care about rewards; he only cares about video games."
I know for a fact that he wishes his parents spent more time with him. I've seen him complain about it many times before, and he had good reason to. And I know he would absolutely love it if they engaged with his interests. So, I came up with the perfect idea:
"Get some star stickers and something to put them on. Every time he does something on his own, put a star sticker on the sheet. Pick a number- five, ten, doesn't matter- and set that as the weekly star goal. If he meets the star goal by the end of the week, he gets to pick any game he wants out of the games he owns, and you have to play that game with him."
The response to this suggestion?
"But then I'd have to play with him."
YES. That's the point.
I said, "If I still lived with you, I'd do it myself. But I don't. Parenting is a two way street, and if you want him to put in effort and change how he acts, you need to put in effort too."
They said "He'd just try to find a way to get the reward without doing the work."
I said, "Don't let him. Have a backbone. Make the rules clear, and don't bend them for him or for you. You need to have a backbone and keep your promises."
But they don't seem willing to try it. It's almost like I knew this would happen once I moved out. The solution is right there. It didn't take long to come up with it. It kills two birds with one stone: incentivize him to be more self sufficient, and spend more time with him.
But nah. Fuck that. Too much work. It's easier to just blame the kid.
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Parents really post stuff like this online and wonder why their kids don't trust them
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bloompawz Ā· 4 days
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ive been seeing a new wave of transmedicalists lately I think we gotta start being vocal again about how nasty they are. you don't need to take hormones or have surgery to be a trans person. changing your name and pronouns is gender affirming care. wearing new clothes and hair and makeup is part of transitioning too. you dont need to pass to be trans, you don't need to be male or female.
nonbinary, agender, genderfluid, genderqueer people are trans too if that's a label they want to use for themselves. and anyone who says otherwise is a piece of shit. it's not "anti-transitioning" to say so, it's anti-telling other people what to do with their bodies. it's pro-minding your own fucking business and letting people do what they want with their gender and treating them with compassion and enthusiasm
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bloompawz Ā· 4 days
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I'm not sure what you're having difficulty understanding, but I'll try to explain as much as I can.
AFAB = Assigned female at birth. Doctors usually assign babies as female if they don't appear to have been born with a penis.
AMAB = Assigned male at birth. Doctors usually assign babies as male if they do appear to have been born with a penis.
Intersex = An umbrella term for sex variations which don't fall neatly into the binary categories of male or female. This includes things like chromosomal variations, genital variations, etc.
Intersex people are usually assigned female or male at birth. However, AFAB intersex people don't always have vaginas, and AMAB intersex people don't always have penises.
Bottom surgery also exists, as in the surgical changing of a person's genitalia. This includes things like vaginoplasty, vulvoplasty, phalloplasty, metoidioplasty, nullification, etc. So, a person won't necessarily have the same genitals that they had at birth.
If a person was assigned female at birth, that does not necessarily mean that they have a vagina. Likewise, if a person was assigned male at birth, that does not necessarily mean that they have a penis.
AFAB/AMAB tells you which gender a person was assigned at birth, and that's it. It tells you nothing about their actual anatomy or medical needs.
Some of yā€™all forget that bottom surgery and intersex people exist.
Amab ā‰  penis
Afab ā‰  vagina
There are people who are afab who have penises and people who are amab who have vaginas.
So please for the love of god stop saying afab when you mean ā€˜someone who has a vaginaā€™ and amab when you mean ā€˜someone who has a penisā€™
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bloompawz Ā· 6 days
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Please take some time to read this post. Yes, romantic love is not the only form of love that exists. I've never seen a loveless aro deny that. But that does not mean that love is a universal concept or experience, nor is it inherently what defines a person's queerness.
"being queer is about love" hmm actually being queer is about defying societal norms about gender and sexuality and does not depend on feeling love at all
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bloompawz Ā· 7 days
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The double sports bra method is not safe. I know that gender dysphoria can make people desperate sometimes, but it's not worth it. It can cause harm to your body, and can even negatively interfere with top surgery down the road. Use a proper binder, trans tape, or loose/layered clothes to give the illusion of flatness if possible.
Please remake the poll with a disclaimer. This feels irresponsible.
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bloompawz Ā· 8 days
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I'm gonna copy/paste this:
Non-SAM aro is a term for aromantic people who don't use the split attraction model (also known as the SAM). The split attraction model separates attraction into different labels/experiences. For example, being asexual and aromantic is an example of the split attraction model in use, because sexuality and romance are labeled separately.
Non-SAM aros don't use a separate label for their sexual orientation. They might label their sexual orientation in the same way that they label their romantic orientation (e.g. "my sexual orientation is aro"), or they might leave their sexual orientation completely unlabeled.
Non-SAM aros may or may not label their nonrose orientations separately*, as the split attraction model is most commonly used in reference to sexuality and romance specifically. It is generally accepted that non-SAM aros can use separate labels for their nonrose attraction or lack thereof. For example, a person could be an aplatonic non-SAM aro, a bisensual non-SAM aro, etc. as long as they don't label their sexuality separately.
*Nonrose is a term for attractions and orientations which are neither sexual nor romantic. This includes platonic, queerplatonic, alterous, aesthetic, sensual, etc.
hii. i've seen the term non-sam aro. do you know what it means? thanks! <2
well, the SAM (split attraction model) is a way to separate romantic and sexual attractions.
itā€™s not always accepted within the aspec community, so I would assume a non-sam aro would be someone who didnā€™t use the model?
if anyone knows more about it, please feel free to comment :)
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bloompawz Ā· 11 days
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hey i've been like pretty low on money the last few months, which has generally been surprisingly fine (though definitely stressful) but i'm now at a point where it's potentially about to get difficult. while im excited to finally about to be debt free i currently also have an open bill for legal fees im late on that's almost an entire months worth of my current regular income (which is only around 800-1000 USD).
any donations on my ko-fi (and especially monthly subscriptions) would help me tremendously with getting over this hump next month and allow for me to continue and expand my work (the big article im working is already like 3 months of work by two people and over a hundred dollars in expenses).
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bloompawz Ā· 11 days
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I've had thoughts about this for a while. I talked about this through the lens of shipping once on Discord, which I'll paraphrase here:
Does anyone else sometimes feel like alloromantic people ship aro characters in queerplatonic relationships, just as a substitute for a romantic relationship? I'm aromantic and romance-indifferent, and I don't dislike romantic or queerplatonic relationships personally. But when I see alloros ship aromantic people (even queerplatonically), it sometimes just feels... off? How do I put this... it feels like it's just another way to pressure aromantic people into relationships. If we don't want a romantic relationship, we're expected to want a queerplatonic one, or another form of intimate nonromantic relationship. Meanwhile aros who don't want any of that continue to be ostracised. It feels like an extension of amatonormativity. Sometimes, when alloromantic people ship aros together queerplatonically, it feels like they actually just want to ship them romantically, but they label it as queerplatonic so it "doesn't cause any issues." I think this is true particularly when it comes to alloros who only ship aro characters queerplatonically, but never ship two (or more) alloromantic characters together queerplatonically. It makes it obvious that they just see queerplatonic relationships as "aromantic romance," at least in my opinion.
(This is almost verbatim. I mainly changed some grammar, and also changed how I referred to myself in this message, because I identified as aroace at the time and no longer do. I'm just aromantic.)
Anyway, it was a conversation about how alloromantic people ship aromantic characters, but the sentiment applies to real life as well. It often feels like people see QPRs as an "acceptable substitute" for romance. There's still an insistence that a void exists, and some sort of relationship needs to fill it, and especially a monogamous one.
"Aromantic people need a romantic partner to be happy" is an amatonormative statement.
"Aromantic people need some sort of partner to be happy, but not necessarily a romantic one" is a statement which is just as amatonormative as the former.
Please don't act like romance needs a substitute. It doesn't.
I swear, if "aromantic people need a queerplatonic partner to be happy" becomes an actual societal expectation, I'm going to actually cry.
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bloompawz Ā· 12 days
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Chuzzle Deluxe (2005)
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bloompawz Ā· 12 days
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I would also like to mention that this is legally recognized as a form of Holocaust denial in Germany, where it can be prosecuted as a crime.
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JK Rowling has used her billionaire legal team to silence a Jewish woman for telling the truth about her contempt for trans victims of the Holocaust.
Scotlandā€™s network of ā€œfreedom of speechā€ organisations, as per usual, have nothing to say about the use of wealth to gag critics of the wealthy.
However fast they race to condemn the LGBT+ community for saying the names of those who harm us. Statements at the ready to insist that transphobes no one wants to work with anymore must be given every possible opportunity to gain from their bigotry.
But it's not the billionaires who are being silenced, as our media breathlessly echo their every hateful proclamation.
It's journalists and activists forced to publicly humiliate themselves under the weight and the threat of billionaire legal teams or be driven into destitution.
We deserve better. Freedom of speech needs to mean something
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bloompawz Ā· 12 days
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Another bambi-sexual background, for fun :3
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Bambi-sexual flag
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Definition of bambi-sexual
Bambi-sexual, also spelled bambisexual or simply shortened to bambi, is a term for people who prefer nonsexual touch over sexual touch. The term originated in the 1980s or earlier.
The term was featured in The Alyson Almanac, which was originally published in 1989, with its second edition published the following year. In The Alyson Almanac, the following definition was given:
BAMBI-SEXUALITY. Physical interaction centered more about touching, kissing, and caressing than around genital sexuality.
Bambi-sexuality is often associated with lesbians (i.e. bambi lesbians), but is not exclusive to them. The term can be used by straight people, gay men, nonbinary people, aromantic people, and people of any other orientation and gender, so long as there is a preference for nonsexual touch.
Bambi-sexual people may or may not be additionally interested in sex. Bambi-sexuality also may or may not be an asexual/ace-spec sexuality, depending on the individual.
Explanation behind the flag
I based the colors on Bambi, from the 1942 Disney film by the same name. Each stripe also has its own additional meaning.
Yellow represents light and/or nonsexual forms of touch
Orange represents energy, joy, and warmth
Red represents nonsexual passion and intimacy
Purple brown represents asexual and ace-spec bambis
Yellow is a light color, which feels fitting to represent touch which does not involve genital contact, as genital touch/sex is often associated with darkness (dim lights, nighttime, etc). The lightness of the yellow can also allude to touch which is, in and of itself, considered a "light" form of touch, such as gentle caressing.
Orange commonly represents energy, joy, and warmth. This stripe highlights some of the positive emotions that can come with physical intimacy, whether of a sexual nature or not.
Red is commonly depicted as a fiery, passionate color. It is often used to represent things like love, sex, and intimacy. In this case, this is nonsexual passion and intimacy.
Purple brown represents asexual and ace-spec bambis because purple is commonly used to represent asexuality, and there is a lot of overlap between asexuality and bambi-sexuality. Some consider bambi-sexuality to be somewhat of a precursor to asexuality; people who identify as asexual now may have identified as bambi-sexual a few decades ago. While I'm not asexual/ace-spec myself (I'm just a bambi), I felt that this was important to include.
On a similar note, I decided to use only four stripes, specifically so it would look good/blend well with the asexual flag, due to the overlap in communities and identities.
LPS flag and bambi pride backgrounds for fun!
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bloompawz Ā· 12 days
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welcome to my food blog i guess. transgender oreo
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