#I was pondering about the fact that lip kisses are dubbed as strictly romantic

[nunyverse-scribe]

What if I said you don’t need to be physically affectionate with your partner. What if I said you don’t have to ever kiss them on the lips. Or hold their hands. Or cuddle. What if I said that expecting physical touch out of a partner without talking about those things first is weird, because you shouldn’t expect those to be default givens to you. The same way you wouldn’t expect (or I’d hope you wouldn’t expect) those to be default givens in a friendship.

Sure, a lotta people may be fine with physical affection with their romantic partner, but have you ever considered that not everyone does. Would you assume that someone’s romantic relationship is “probably doing poorly” if you learned they don’t engage in physical affection like that. Would you pity the person who respects the boundaries of their partner that feels uncomfortable with physical touch. Would you villainize the person who set that boundary.

#I was pondering about the fact that lip kisses are dubbed as strictly romantic #& I already made a post abt how I think that’s ridiculous and how some ppl may express platonic affection through lip kisses #& I was thinking about how this personally applies to me and like #I realized that……. I don’t need lip kisses at all?????? #if I never kiss a romantic partner while in a relationship that wouldn’t bother me #it also wouldn’t bother me if they DID want lip kisses #same applies to friendships #I wouldn’t be bothered if a friend said they like expressing platonic love through lip kisses #& I’m obviously not bothered if they don’t want that #idk I’m finding that a lotta rules for romance & platonic love is very arbitrary and ridiculous #mainly been thinking abt this bc I’ve been remembering this one TikTok of two girls showing a montage of photos of their friendship #& in one of the photos they were kissing each other on the lips #& they clarified that they were doing it in a platonic way #however ppl made a meme abt it & would draw their character ships to it #and I remember that leaving a sour taste in my mouth bc like… bro why are you implying that lip kissing can only be romantic???? #I have so many thoughts abt this stuff tho #I think I might make one of my OC ships have a thing where they’re like… NOT super physically affectionate #bc one of the characters HATES physical touch #idk it’s just been on my mind a lot these past couple days #& unfortunately who I’d go to for bc fellow aro-specs be camping rn so no texting #anyway rambling in the post AND in the tags #relationship anarchist #relationship anarchy