#asaw 2020

[the-agent-of-blight]

Aromanticism in Academic Papers (day 2)

Each day of ASAW, i'm going to summarize and discuss a different academic paper that researches aromanticism in some capacity. Today is day 2.

Today's paper is: Ace and Aro: Understanding Differences in Romantic Attractions Among Persons Identifying as Asexual by Amy N. Antonsen, Bozena Zdaniuk, Morag Yule, and Lori A. Brotto. (2020) [stable link]

This paper's primary focus is on researching the romantic experience of asexual individuals, including the significant population of Aroace individuals. The authors found that 74% of asexual people reported experiencing romantic attraction, found differences in activities, behavior, and personalities between allo and aro asexuals. These results were found through an amalgam of data collected in 7 different studies into asexuality.

This paper, being one of the first papers to actually address aromantic people at all, has to establish some facts that seem like common sense to those of us in the community. Unsurprisingly, more alloace participants reported being in a romantic relationship than aroace participants. Alloaces were 6.7 times more likely to be in a relationship than aroaces. This is something that seems like common sense, but since aromanticism is so rarely discussed in academic literature, this is a new finding for academia. Similarly, alloaces reported more past romantic partners than those who aroace.

This paper lends academic credence to something that the asexual community has often said itself: that there are aces who want to engage in romantic activity.

I am not without complaint, however. One of this paper's claims is "Aromantic asexual participants were colder, less nurturant, and less intrusive than romantic asexual participants based on the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems." Obviously, reading that the first time, I was quite insulted. Some of those phrases carry negative connotations. Now, of course, the paper does acknowledge this, recognizing that two of the questions used to find this result (From the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems) mentioned feelings that are often associated with romantic love, which means data may have been biased by poorly worded questions. Another criticism I have with this paper is its focus on aromanticism as only a modifier to asexuality, but i do concede that it was significantly easier to study via meta-analysis. One thing to consider about the history of aromantic people being studied in academic literature is that most mentions are extremely new, and that the origins of that comes primarily from research around asexuality that got its start in 2008. Ultimately, this paper is still foundational to a lot of more aromantic specific research later on in the body of literature and therefore holds a special place.

[link to day 3]

#Day 2! #again give me feedback if you want some #i know its supposed to be all about aromanticism this week and all but #its nigh impossible to get a paper thats just about aromanticism. in my research there have been very few that are completely divorced #from asexuality research #aro #aromantic #aromanticism #asaw 2024

[mrs-luigi-vargas]

WIP Wednesday

I mean to do these more often than I do but Wednesday is usually my busiest day of the week because its the day I actually have to do a work commute longer than the 10 feet from my bed to my desk XD

Anyway, when the year started I wanted to have the angsty aroace!Mario fic written for Valentine's Day/AroSpec Awareness Week but then I looked at what I had left to write for it and how much time I had and there was no way I was finishing it within that deadline, lmao. So I put it down and decided to work on some other WIPs instead; I have some outlines and ideas from late 2020/early 2021 that I can knock out real quick, with how much my writing skills have progressed. And it would be nice to actually put a tangible dent in my WIP pile for once. I already wrote two of them, and luckily I have a different aro!Mario WIP half-outlined that I can definitely write and finish in time for ASAW so I think I'm going to focus on that, now. It's not much to do with Mario being aro itself (aside from Peach being mad about amatonormativity for a bit, ha); it'll probably mostly be, like, platonic cuddling and junk. But it'll be nice to get another entry in the aro!Mario series after so long…It's really hard to get ideas for new fics for it :(

This also means I have to pause the WIP I was actively in the middle of working on, which was a late-2020 idea about Kamek accidentally shrinking himself and Mario deciding to mind him. Because I don't know if I'm looking in the wrong places or something, but its really hard to find fics where people are shrunken that aren't, like, Borrowers fusions or a vore thing. Which, no shade to either of those, but they aren't the vibe I'm after, haha. But I suspect the shared change in perspective and helpless vulnerability and having to trust someone who could just crush you if they wanted etc etc etc is still fueling it all regardless :)

So anyway here's some of the tiny!Kamek fic because I won't be working on it for a hot minute —

“Either that spell I’d cast was more powerful than I’d realized,” Kamek slowly said, “Or I somehow managed to shrink myself, instead.”

“...”

“I’d shrunk myself, didn't I.”

Mario’s mustache curled up in amusement. Kamek ground his teeth and fumed. Of all the stupid mistakes to make...!

Despite his magic reserves being low, Kamek reached into his sleeve for his wand; whether to put himself back to normal or knock the amusement off Mario’s face, he couldn't say. Either way, his hand came out empty. And it did so the second time Kamek rummaged in in his sleeve, and the third, and the fourth, and the — 

Absolutely not panicking, Kamek dove back into the tree hollow to overturn every dead leaf and stick pile and moss clump in search of his wand. He didn't find it, of course, and he spared a moment or two to just stand there, head in hands. With how today was going, he’d probably dropped it just after miscasting that spell. On the very dim bright side, though, at least he knew why his broom wasn't working; those enchantments weren't designed to play nice with these sort of shrinking spells. Kamek sighed. Curse Lord Bowser and his incessant, almost impossible demands...

Kamek lifted his head to find Mario peering through the opening of the tree hollow, watching him with a furrowed brow, considering Kamek’s misfortune. He backed up to allow Kamek to leave, and once Kamek stood upright, he extended a hand to him.

“I don't need your help,” Kamek snapped. Ignoring Mario’s hand, he turned on his heel, marched a few steps, tripped over a protruding bit of exposed bark, and lost his balance. His next step was on empty air, at a height borderline unsurvivable, with little but a broken broom to break his fall.

So he fell. And he hit the ground. Sooner than he’d expected, considering. Kamek unscrewed his eyes and found the surface he’d landed on was whiter than he’d expected, as well. And then it moved, and Kamek lost the little balance he’d been barely holding on to. Mario’s worried face filled Kamek’s vision, and he realized that he wasn't dead because Mario had caught him.

“...I suppose I should thank you,” Kamek eventually said, with no intention of thanking Mario. Mario huffed, but still watched him, lips pursed in thought. He was being quieter than usual, and that combined with the sudden awareness of just how vulnerable he was —  many fractions his size, unable to cast any spells, sitting on his archenemy’s palms high in the air — had Kamek swallowing nervously.

“You can put me down, now,” Kamek hesitantly said, because Mario was a good guy, and he would do that. For sure. Hopefully.

Except Mario didn't. Instead, he transferred Kamek to one hand, opened the front pocket of his overalls with the other, and dumped Kamek in there as if he was some common — 

Kamek struggled to right himself in the small, mostly enclosed space. “Wh — You —!” he sputtered. “How dare you — !”

Mario chuckled at Kamek’s indignation. The vibrations of it rumbled through Kamek's body, and the whole ‘you’re very tiny and powerless and more-or-less at your archenemy’s mercies right now’ dilemma screeched back to the forefront of Kamek’s mind. So he shut his mouth with a clack, thinking better of poking his head out of the pocket to give Mario a piece of his mind. Through the meager opening above him he saw Mario give him one last look before starting to move; with the way the world shifted probably meant he was at a brisk walk, down the forest path to who-knew-where.

Kamek sighed, making himself comfortable the best he could given the circumstances. Well... at least Mario wasn't likely to let Kamek get accosted by wildlife again. And besides, all Kamek had to do was wait until he could scrounge up enough magic to cast spells again; though he was still without his wand, he’d still be free to ditch Mario and make his own way back to the base for his spare wand and broom. And then he could make Mario pay for this indignity ten-fold.

#this fic is just Kamek being really cranky lmao #i've missed getting into his head #i feel like i've gotten a little faster with writing lately which is really fun #sooner or later i'm gonna run out of all the simple WIPs though #then i'll be in trouble XD #mlv.txt #wip wednesday #smb

[aromantic-pantyanarchy]

My ASAW project this year is, like, a little bit complicated, but essentially within a kinda weird niche community that I’m in, I’m spotlighting a handful of characters from Marvel Comics that are confirmed aro or arospec: Yelena Belova, Nadia van Dyne, and Benjamin Thomas.

And, like, they’re good. I really enjoyed those runs. Unstoppable Wasp, Children of the Atom, the 2016 Champions and 2020 Black Widow runs. This isn’t something that bothered me throughout, but something that bugs me in hindsight, but.

Those runs are fully capable and interested in exploring characters who are opposite-gender attracted, the messy and complicated and fun drama of those relationships and the feelings attached to them, but for the aro characters, even when the character is the lead title principal character, you get a line where they’re like “no, I don’t really do that” and then it’s never brought up again.

Maybe it’s too much to ask for for them to say the word I guess, but more important than the vocabulary is exploring those feelings, imo, and repeatedly we’re denied both, even in spaces that are meant to acknowledge us, and that’s frustrating.

#aromantic #aro #aromantic spectrum awareness week #asaw

[seraphic-sapphic-safehaven]

Happy Arospec Awareness Week to all the amazing arospecs in our community!!!

Shoutout to...

Awesome Aromantics!

Admirable Aroaces!

Amazing Alloaros!

Dazzling Demiromantics!

Genuine Greyromantics!

Outstanding Oriented Aroaces!

Charming Cupioromantics!

Angelic Arofluxes!

Fantastic Frayromantics!

Amiable Angled Aroaces!

Lovely Lithromantics!

Quaint Quoiromantics!

Nice Nebularomantics!

Extraordinary Electio Aroaces!

Amicable Arovagues!

Radiant Recipromantics!

Authentic Aegoromantics!

Brilliant Bellusromantics!

Pleasant Placioromantics!

Quirky Quasiromantics!

Astonishing Apothiromantics!

Inspiring Idemromantics!

Courageous Caedromantics!

Incredible Iamvanoromantics!

Remarkable Requisromantics!

Astounding Acoromantics!

And to all other arospecs!! You're all so wonderful and so valid! Arospecs are a vital part of the LGBTQ+ community, and it just wouldn't be the same without y'all! No matter what anyone says, you belong here, and you make our community so much better! Have a great Arospec Awareness Week; you deserve it! 💚🖤

#asaw 2020 #aro week #arospec awareness week #arospec positivity #aro positivity #my posts #lgbtq+ #lgbtq positivity #lgbtq holidays #asaw #aro #aromantic #arospec #demiromantic #cupioromantic #aroace #oriented aroace #recipromantic #aroflux #frayromantic #greyromantic #lithromantic #quoiromantic #idemromantic #angled aroace #electio aroace #arovague #grey aro #nebularomantic #caedromantic

[aspec-is-amazing]

#dunno how active ill be during the week itself #but this is definitely a whole mood #aro #aro memes #aromantic #arospec #aspec #asaw 2020 #valentines day

[ryujisakamotoappreciationclub]

happy aromantic spectrum awareness week gang!! aro frog hopes you have a great week! 💚🖤💚

bonus; aroallo and aroace flags! <3

#hell yeah babey!!! #i have an aro badge on the way and i’m ready to celebrate #aromantic #aro #arospec #aspec #my art #asaw 2020 #asaw #aromantic awareness week #frog #aromantic spectrum awareness week #aroallo #aroace #200 #400 #500 #600 #800 #1k #2k

[an-aromatic-aromantic]

yes

[ID: first picture shows Pikachu from Pokémon holding a coffee cup, Pikachu is labelled “me” and the coffee cup is labelled “arospec headcanons”. the second picture has Pikachu drinking from said cup]

#arospec #aro #aromantic #aromantic memes #asaw #asaw 2020 #aromanticism #aromantic spectrum awareness week #actually aro #actually aromantic #it really be like that #will i share some of my headcanons at some point?? #mayhaps

[snootyfoxfashion]

Arospec Buttonss from cpikoart

x / x

#aromantic #demiromantic #greyromantic #aroflux #lithromantic #akoiromantic #frayromantic #cupioromantic #queerplatonic #alloaro #aroace #asaw 2020 #asaw #arospecawarenessweek #aromantic spectrum awareness week #aromantic awareness week #aro #arospec #aspec #lgbtq+ #pin #badge #button #pins #pride merch #pride pins #aromantic pride #pins and patches

[the-serpentine-narrative]

So, I’m getting into this year’s Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week a bit late, but here’s my contribution for Day 2: Pride. It’s my collection of aro enamel pins so far (though I’m waiting on a few more from kickstarter). I included links to all of them; most are currently available for purchase, but a few seem to have been kickstarter exclusives. (also, the images, especially the first one, are clearer if you full-screen them)

`,`,`,--------------->

Ice Cream Cone, by TheGeekStudio

Wing Set, by JackalandhareArt

Abstract Shape, by BiancaDesignsCo

‘Aro-venant’ Ghost, by CunningLinguistCo

Heart Shape, by Compoco

Aromantic Salamanders, by MorningWitch

Longbow Aro, by Foxflightstudios

Aro-gator, by Gay Breakfast

Mouse, by toripng

Star Wars Rebellion Emblem, by Gilles Bone

Jar of Origami Stars, by Mei Snyder

Carousel Pony, by starsalts

Axolotl, by Megan Baehr

Cake Slice, by BunMuffin

Mermaid & Unicorn, by Miskelle

'Roll For Pride’ Dice, by Becca Farrow

Planet, by ZealoApparel

Aro-space Engineer, by gloriousweirdo

Anatomical Heart, by SyppahsArtStudio

Bee Proud, by Angelene Manalo

#arosandarrows #aromantic #aro #asaw #asaw 2020 #aromantic spectrum awareness week

[arolution]

ARO PRIDE

aros, happy day aros

(wanted to post this earlier but 14th of February counts as fitting too right)

#aro #aromantic #aro art #aro positivity #amatonormativity #aro flag #aro pride #aro visibility #asaw 2020

[psikind]

#legit SO happy rn over that part of the route #homestuck #pesterquest #jake english #aromantic #asaw 2020 #risk.txt

[the-agent-of-blight]

Aromanticism in Academic Papers (day 6)

Today is day 6 of my ASAW 2024 project to summarize a new academic paper focusing on aromanticism to some level each day!

Today's paper is: Sexuality, romantic orientation, and masculinity: Men as underrepresented in asexual and aromantic communities by Hannah Tessler and Canton Winer (2023) [stable link]

I'm going to be honest upfront. This paper is my favorite paper i've come across in this research process. It genuinely made me cry the first time I read it because of how well the experiences i've felt were represented and discussed in this setting.

This paper examines men as a minority group within the aro and ace communities, a claim backed up by the data from the 2020 Asexual Community Survey and 2020 Aromantic Census which respectively had 11% and 8% of their respondents be men. (women had response rates of 48% and 33%, and Other had a response rate of 41% and 60% respectively). The study's goal is to understand why this is the case.

The literature review of this paper focuses primarily on establishing how romantic and sexual attraction end up becoming gendered, with men receiving social capital from having sex with many women, while women gain status from forming a stable romantic partnership with a man. The cultural narrative of "Men want sex and women want love." is an excellent example of how different attractions become gendered. It has been hypothesized that men are often hesitant to identify as asexual because of the societal expectation of sexual voracity. In the world of romance, men are often also expected to "make the first move" and form romantic partnerships which is an important part to other masculinties.

The authors conducted several interviews with aromantic and/or asexual men to help come to an understanding of how men perform masculinity in a world focused on sex and romance. Many interviewers discussed how though men can get more leeway to deprioritize romance, aromantic men still must face "the burden of gendered expectations" that men should be "perusing" a romantic relationship. Interviewees mentioned other forms of emotionally intimate relationships such as qprs or close friendships as their preferred relationship. AroAllos face a unique issue of attempting to approach relationships that could become sexual without being percieved as a "player" or "fuckboy". To construct a hegemonic masculinity, you need (hetero)sexuality and romantic relationship formation, and for many aromantic and ace men, that is not possible.

Tessler and Winer stress that centering the aromantic and asexual spectra will significantly advance sociology around sexuality, gender, and family. I personally hope to see some future papers fulfill that charge to the academic community.

Ultimately this paper finds that men are a demographic minority in the aro ace communities, and explores themes around the interaction between the masculinity of aro/ace men and hegemonic masculinity. As Tessler and Winer put it, "Asexuality and Aromanticism both exist in tension with hegemonic masculinity. This contrasts with narratives that imply that sex is enherent to hegemonic masculnity while romance is inherent to emphasized femininity." The authors theorize that men may be less likely to become aware of aromanticism because of the gendered nature of asexual identification (since many people only hear of aromanticism as a result of learning about asexuality). So, though men can face less pressure to participate in romance, participate in romance we must to fall within hegemonic gender roles.

[link to day 7]

#this paper says a lot of what i've been sayin about the aro man experience for a long time #if you read any of the papers i've written one of these posts on #read this one #as always feedback is greatly appreciated #aro #aromantic #asaw 2024 #aromanticism

[genderqueerpositivity]

(Image description: blue text on a white background that says "aromantic trans people are amazing", smaller red text below says "your identities are beautiful and valid", the text is framed by circles, spots, and swirls in shades of blue, red, and orange.)

#aromantic #aromantic positivity #aromantic positive #aro week #aro spec positivity #aro spectrum week #asaw 2020 #trans aro #trans positivity #gif #gif warning #aromantic gif #trans gif #op #q #genderqueerpositivity

[autcore]

Try being an aromantic ally this aro week:

Learn some aro basics [X] [X]

Remember allyship is something you do not something you are!

Read about what people's aromanticism means to them [X] [X] [X]

Uplift aro voices, especially alloaro and non-SAM aro voices.

Listen to aros about amatonormativity and how it's wrapped up in everything. This could be a starting point: [X]

Learn why things you're used to saying and doing might be amatonormative and learn how to remedy this.

#asaw #asaw 2020 #aromantic #lgbtqia #aro week #kricketot chirps #how to be an aro ally #asexual #yes I'm cross tagging allo aces need to learn aro allyship too

[queerplatonicpositivity]

[ ID: A series of 10 images titled “Aro Facts” and numbered 1-10. There is an arrow pointing up on the right, and both the demiaro and aro flags at the bottom. Each image has the tiny text “Arospec Week 2020″ at the very bottom.  At the top left is the text on each image:

#01 Aro Facts: “All Aro people are not asexual. While many aro people also identify as ace, many of us do not. Allosexual aro people are completely valid and need more support from our communities. It’s okay for us to experience (and act on) sexual attraction without wanting a romantic relationship. We are not slutty and it’s not low self-esteem.”

#02 Aro Facts: “Aro people can feel love and other/intense feelings. Romantic love is not the only kind of love. There are many different kinds of love, and the love and other/intense feelings we experience are just as important and valid as romantic love.”

#03 Aro Facts: “Some Aro people don’t experience love or other/intense feelings. Some of us don’t experience any kind of strong emotions, and that’s okay. We are healthy and worthy of respect even if we don’t experience love or other/intense feelings. Our lack of these feelings does not make us broken and is not a mental illness.”

#04 Aro Facts: “Aro people can have friendships that include sensual/sexual intimacy. We get to decide what our friendships (and all our relationships) look like, and we may choose to have sensual or sexual elements in our friendships.”

#05 Aro Facts: “Aro people belong in the LGBTIQA+ community. We belong here. Our experiences as Aro people have commonalities with the experiences of alloromantic LGBTQIA+ people.”

#06 Aro Facts: “Aro people are not just bitter or jaded from bad relationships. Some Aros may have experienced bad relationships, but identifying as Aro is not out of bitterness from bad relationships. We don’t just need to ‘find the right person.’ We are whole and complete without romance.”*

#07 Aro Facts: “Aro people can be polyamorous. Being Aro can often mean operating outside of common ideas about relationships, and that includes monogamy. It’s totally possible for Aros to be involved in polyamorous situations and relationships.”

#08 Aro Facts: “Demiromantic people still experience stigma like Aro people. Our relationship with romance is different, but we still experience stigma, alienation, and the messages that we are abnormal or broken. It’s important for demiromantic people to have a place in the Aro community.”

#09 Aro Facts: “Demiromanticism is different than being alloromantic. Demiaros can experience romantic attraction after there’s a close, emotional bond. This might seem like the same thing as alloromantic people, but can actually be very different, especially when it comes to the order people expect in stages of a relationship.”

#10 Aro Facts: “Demiromantic people don’t think they’re better than alloromantics. Not experiencing romantic attraction until we have a close, emotional bond isn’t something we choose and doesn’t mean we think we’re better than other people. It’s just how we’re wired.”

*Note for #06 Aro Fact -- It’s totally valid for someone to identify as Aro because of having a bad or traumatic romantic relationship.  This is only meant to say that all Aros aren’t Aro due to bad relationships, and that “good” relationships are not something Aros “need” in order to be “fixed” -- because there is nothing wrong with us.  I just wanted to clarify because there’s not really enough room on the image, but I want to be sure that Aros who identify as Aro specifically because of bad/traumatic relationships know that you are valid and you belong in our communities.

18th: Awareness - What do you wish people knew about being arospec? Make or design a sign with an arrow + a message. (link)

#op #aro positivity #aromantic positivity #demiaro positivity #demiromantic positivity #aro facts #asaw 2020 #arosandarrows

[steven-scribbleverse]

Today's Steven is: Wishing everyone a happy Aro-Spec Awareness Week!!

#mod is demiromantic!! #steven universe #steven universe future #su #steven su #steven #daily steven #daily steeb #asaw #aromantic #asaw 2020 #demiromantic #season one