Asexual/Aromantic Spectrum Confessions

[crowdrinkingcoffee]

ayyyyyy, shoutout to bunnings stocking a colour called “ace of spades” for giving me this idea

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

as an aroace person with limited sexual experience, no interest in watching porn, and poor sex ed as a teen, there IS something simultaneously funny and vaguely tragic about being 28 adult years old and realising how extremely tiny your frame of reference is for genitalia and deciding you should expand this to better understand bodies (yours and others). and then you're just there like "okay so what the fuck do I even google right now, anyway"

[puc-puggy]

Large Labia Project

Labia Library

Breast Gallery-Nonsexualized Images of real, anonymously submitted breasts

Critique My Dick Pic [tumbex archive]-real submitted dick centric nudes

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

thank you (i think?)

[puc-puggy]

why wouldn't it be thank you? you expressed interest in sexual education materials related to genital body diversity, and i keep these resources on hand for exactly that purpose.

it's natural to be curious about bodies--yours and others. the presence or lack of sexual intent motivating that curiosity is irrelevant. they're just body parts

I also found one of my favorites I couldn't find this morning: The Great Wall of Vulva and their Labia Library

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

sorry, my gratitude was real, my uncertainty was @ me ("am i sure i actually want to spend my evening looking at genitals or was i using the difficulty of knowing what to google as an excuse not to learn things") lol

do you have any resources for trans bodies, especially transmasc bodies? i am interested in better understanding what changes i might expect as someone on testosterone, but though i found references to photo projects re: bottom growth in a few places, all the links were dead

[puc-puggy]

totally, the London Transgender Clinic and Dr. Keelee MacPhee have a variety of before and after photos related to various gender affirmation procedures.

i think that r/GrowYourTDick is the best repository of images of specifically trans masculine bottom growth. I can't comment on the culture of the forum, but there is absolutely a lot of images of transmasculine genitalia and extensive discussion of physical changes.

For (relatively*) trustworthy information, Hudson's FTM Resource Guide contains a lot of information about medical side effects and Things To Generally Be Aware Of, like increased risk for yeast infections and tips for managing locker rooms/swimming. *I can't verify that this information is up to date

I'm not directly connected to any trans masc transition support networks, but i know that discord is a thriving space for transition support and information sharing. i think it would be relatively easy to find positive community there. they often compile resources and information for members as well as provide topical discussion spaces. here's the disboard listings for public trans masc oriented servers

and this is just a really beautiful series of portraits of trans masculine people.

that about taps me out on resources!

[puc-puggy]

no, I lied, I'm not done. I spent way too long looking for this photography archive documenting trans nude portraits specifically. lost to the ether. found other stuff though:

Archive of Body Alchemy: Transsexual Portraits by Loren Cameron, which includes images of genitalia in its "Genital Reconstruction" section, page 46. Portraits of clothed trans masculine people other than the author begin on page 34 in the "New Man Series."

A Genitoplasty Diary by Lou Sullivan (1984-1987) (no images but fascinating)

the evergreen Trans Bodies, Trans Selves

not useful at all, but an extremely cool in-browser recreation of a 90s mac in order to run a 90s trans information CD-Rom.

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

thanks! sharing for the sake of anyone else interested too

yeah there's so many dead links out there it's tragic. sometimes you even get as far as the artist's website and they'll have a page for the project but then the project is gone and you just get a 404. i'm guessing the increasing hostility of internet providers and stuff towards nudity/nsfw content and also the general atmosphere for trans people has an impact on the safety and practicalities of continuing to host stuff like that :(

[annabelle--cane]

asexuality is word that describes an orientation, not a set of behaviors, ace people can do all kinds of sexual behaviors and still be asexual. some ace people have sex, some don't. some ace people kiss, some don't. some ace people masturbate, some don't. some ace people get homoerotically stabbed, some don't. it's as easy as that to understand.

[sweetcherryblossomswrites]

[bunfloras]

this hit me like a fucking truck. literally just started sobbing. all of the aro/ace people who found comfort in his content and headcanoning his character. man.

[tenitchyfingers]

“We chose the term “asexual” to describe ourselves because both “celibate” and “anti-sexual” have connotations we wished to avoid: the first implies that one has sacrificed sexuality for some higher good, the second that sexuality is degrading or somehow inherently bad. “Asexual”, as we use it, does not mean “without sex” but “relating sexually to no one”. This does not, of course, exclude masturbation but implies that if one has sexual feelings they do not require another person for their expression. Asexuality is, simply, self-contained sexuality.”

— The Asexual Manifesto, Lisa Orlando and Barbara Getz, 1972

[capricorn-0mnikorn]

Note the date, people:

That’s 1972

29 years before AVEN was started online,

and 47 years before the present.

And that’s only the date that Manifesto was written, so asexuals as members of a community must have existed at least some time before that.

So, no: we are not just Tumblr trenders. Get out of here with that.

[queerhumanbeing]

supporting my asexual friends and foes by rebbloging this

[freyjawriter24]

It’s 50 years this month since the first version of the Asexual Manifesto was written. Aces have been writing about our experiences under this name for at least half a century. We are not an internet fad.

[greenteaandtattoos]

i think this sums up the aroace community pretty well 

[arcticfoxbear]

Humans Are Weird

So there has been a bit of “what if humans were the weird ones?” going around tumblr at the moment and Earth Day got me thinking. Earth is a wonky place, the axis tilts, the orbit wobbles, and the ground spews molten rock for goodness sakes. What if what makes humans weird is just our capacity to survive? What if all the other life bearing planets are these mild, Mediterranean climates with no seasons, no tectonic plates, and no intense weather? 

What if several species (including humans) land on a world and the humans are all “SCORE! Earth like world! Let’s get exploring before we get out competed!” And the planet starts offing the other aliens right and left, electric storms, hypothermia, tornadoes and the humans are just … there… counting seconds between flashes, having snowball fights, and just surviving. 

[arafaelkestra]

To paraphrase one of my favorite bits of a ‘humans are awesome’ fiction megapost: “you don’t know you’re from a Death World until you leave it.” For a ton of reasons, I really like the idea of Earth being Space Australia.

[radioactivepeasant]

Earth being Space Australia Words cannot express how much I love these posts

[crazy-pages]

Alien: “I’m sorry, what did you just say your comfortable temperature range is?”

Human: “Honestly we can tolerate anywhere from -40 to 50 Celcius, but we prefer the 0 to 30 range.”

Alien: “……. I’m sorry, did you just list temperatures below freezing?”

Human: “Yeah, but most of us prefer to throw on scarves or jackets at those temperatures it can be a bit nippy.” 

Other human: “Nah mate, I knew this guy in college who refused to wear anything past his knees and elbows until it was -20 at least.”

Human: “Heh. Yeah everybody knows someone like that.”

Alien: “……. And did you also say 50 Celcius? As in, half way to boiling?”

Human: “Eugh. Yes. It sucks, we sweat everywhere, and god help you if you touch a seatbelt buckle, but yes.” 

Alien: “……. We’ve got like 50 uninhabitable planets we think you might enjoy.” 

[val-ritz]

“You’re telling me that you have… settlements. On islands with active volcanism?” “Well, yeah. I’m not about to tell Iceland and Hawaii how to live their lives. Actually, it’s kind of a tourist attraction.” “What, the molten rock?” “Well, yeah! It’s not every day you see a mountain spew out liquid rocks! The best one is Yellowstone, though. All these hot springs and geysers from the supervolcano–” “You ACTIVELY SEEK OUT ACTIVE SUPERVOLCANOES?” “Shit, man, we swim in the groundwater near them.”

[wuestenratte]

Sounds like the “Damned” trilogy by Alan Dean Foster.

[networkentertainment-offici-blog]

“And you say the poles of your world would get as low as negative one hundred with wind chill?” 

“Yup, with blizzards you cant see through every other day just about.”

“Amazing! when did you manage to send drones that could survive such temperatures?”

“… well, actually…”

“… what?”

“…we kinda……. sent……….. people…..”

“…”

“…”

“…what?”

“we sent-”

“no yeah I heard you I just- what? You sent… HUMANS… to a place one hundred degrees below freezing?”

“y-yeah”

“and they didn’t… die?”

“Well the first few did”

“PEOPLE DIED OF THE COLD AND YOUR SOLUTION WAS TO SEND MORE PEOPLE???!?!?!?”

[arcticfoxbear]

My new favorite Humans are Weird quote

“PEOPLE DIED OF THE COLD AND YOUR SOLUTION WAS TO SEND MORE PEOPLE?”

aka The History of Russia

aka Arctic Exploration

aka The History of Alaska

[unicornempire]

Being from Alaska, this was sort of how I felt going to college in the lower 48′s and learned that no one else had been put through a literal survival camp as a regular part of their school curriculum, including but not limited to:

1. Learning to recognize all forms of animal tracks in the wild so you can avoid bears and moose and search out rabbits and other small animals to eat.

2. Extensive swimming and climbing on glacial pieces with competitions to see who could last the longest, followed by a group sit in the sauna so we wouldn’t get hypothermia (no, not kidding, I really did this many times as a kid!)

3. How to navigate using the stars to get back to civilization.

4. How to select the right type of moss from the trees to start a fire with damp wood (because, y’know, you’re in a field of snow. Nothing is dry.)

5. How to carve out a small igloo-like space to sleep in the snow to preserve body heat and reduce the windchill so you won’t freeze to death in the arctic.

[reformed-roark]

“I’m telling you, I don’t think we need to worry about territory conflicts with the humans. You know all those deathtrap hell-worlds in the Argoth Cluster?” “Those worthless rocks? Yeah.” “80% of them are considered ‘resort destinations’ by those freaky little primates.”

[down-sizing-deactivated20180211]

“I’m telling you, they terraform for fun!” “Don’t be ridiculous” “No, seriously. Some of their most celebrated cultural loci are built on swamps. They have an entire city that is literally in a body of water. Not, like, an artificial pontoon city, they literally sunk the foundations into water. For Grilp’s sake, they build elaborate structures out of frozen water AND THEN SLEEP IN THEM.” “Dear Thilak. Think we could get them to terraform our moons?” “Psh, they’d probably pay for the privilege.”

[galaxystew]

Eventually, it occurs to someone that humans are the perfect terraforming shock troops, as it were. They think it’s fun to be sent to horrible planets! They’re really good at surviving and then taming them! All you have to do is sit back and wait until the planet is habitable, and then move there yourself! It’s genius.

It only takes one try before the reality of the situation sets in: human definitions of ‘taming’ and ‘habitable’ are woefully incomplete.

“Why did you not eliminate the venomous plant life?” Grahssk’ti moans, clutching one limb.

“Those?” The human laughs. “Why bother? They’re not that bad. And they eat the mosquitoes.”

Grahssk’ti shudders. The ‘mosquitoes’ are… not to be mentioned. Just one swarm of them caused a landing shuttle to crash three planetary daylights ago.

“And the acid storms? Why did you not warn us of them?”

“I mean, they’re annoying,” the human says, shrugging, “but we figured the cool sunsets made up for it.”

Grahssk’ti flails helplessly. “What about the ten-meter tall Fanged Death Bringers? They can eliminate an entire settlement in under an hour!”

“They’re so cute!” the human says, brightening. “Have you met mine? Her name is Spot!”

[exvind]

Humans are told of some planet or region of space that is considered “completely and utterly inhospitable - it would be folly to try and settle there.”

Without fail, a decent number make it a point to settle there because “Fuck You That’s Why.” It doesn’t matter how uneconomical it is, how difficult the conditions are, how utterly ridiculous it may seem, there will be at least one human who will attempt to do it only because someone else regardless of species says it is improbable or WORSE impossible. 

“This moon is still forming as such it is primarily soft - by that I mean most of the magma is close to the surface and-” ‘OH BADASS you mean its like Mustafar right!?!?!?! I’m totally going to build a castle there.’ “What. I mean. There is NO fertile ground there whatsoever. No ecosystem. It is molten rock and minerals only.” ‘Which will make my castle there look METAL AS FUCK am I RIGHT!?!??! Come on. COME ON. I TAUGHT YOU HOW TO FISTBUMP COME ON.’ “….you….you are going to die, you know this right?” ‘I’m getting the feeling you don’t want to come to Lava Castle for some reason?’

[strangenewclassrooms]

“Listen, lad. I’ve built this kingdom up from nothing. When I started here, all there was was molten magma. All those aliens said I was daft to build a castle on a molten planet, but I built it all the same, just to show ‘em. It sank into the magma. So, I built a second one. That sank into the magma. So I built a third one. That spontaneously combusted, turned to ash, then sank into the magma. But the fourth one stayed up. An’ that’s what your gonna get, lad – the strongest castle in this solar system.”

[lochtayboatsong]

“I’m gonna need for you to explain ‘hurricane parties’ to me again.  You humans have the technology to track these apocalyptic storms of wind and rain and predict where on the landmass they’ll hit up to a week in advance.  And you…have social gatherings during them?”

“Well yeah, but only up to about Category 3 strength.  Then it’s time to pack the car and head inland for most people, although a few hardy souls stick around and ride them out.”

“Oh good.  Category 3 is what again?  Winds up to 75 kilometers per hour?”

“No no, Category 3 starts at 175 kilometers per hour.  You left off the one.”

[onnastik]

I’m sure I’ve reblogged some version of this before, but I needed the STRONGEST CASTLE IN THIS SOLAR SYSTEM on my blog.

[antigonesghosts]

“This planet is so cool!”

“It’s a planet completely made of ice.”

“Yeah! Let’s send some scientists! Or I could be the youngest person there!”

“You’d die, it’s below freezing level!”

“But the blizzards are so pretty!”

“The storms of dEATH ARE NOT PRETTY!”

[darker-than-darkstorm]

“PEOPLE DIED OF THE COLD AND YOUR SOLUTION WAS TO SEND MORE PEOPLE???!?!?!?”

“No, of course not.  Nobody ‘sent’ anyone, they just went up there on their own.”

“They WHAT?”

[human-portalz]

Oh my fuck nuggets, the actual thread

[thesaltofcarthage]

these are absolutely some of my favorite threads on tumblr.

[daisy-rivers]

“And these spiral wind funnels are so powerful, they can move large objects around?”

“Oh, hell, yeah, I saw one toss railroad boxcars right into a cornfield.”

“Cornfield? This occurs in areas where there is agriculture?”

“Sure, it’s good farmland. Of course, there are towns and cities there too …”

“Wait, your people build their residences in the spiral-wind-funnel area of the planet?”

“Yup, we call it Tornado Alley.”

“Mm, right, good to know. Gorkle, one to beam up.”

[authorbettyadams]

“Humans are Weird: I Have the Data”

Book 1

Amazon (Kindle, Paperback, Audiobook)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08RSVHL81

Keep reading

[tackedtothewall]

Ooh, another book! (I have the anthology Humans Wanted and I love it)

[rou-rou]

“Hey, we humans have quite a bit of technology to track dangerous weather - we’re actually pretty good at it!”

“Ah. That makes far more sense now! You survive through the use of your technology. That must be why you remain in such inhospitable locations.”

“Yup, we do a pretty good job at adapting.”

“Can I can see, it must have been incredibly difficult to wait for such technology before settling. Although I suppose the need for space was tight without the ability to colonise other planets.”

“Oh, no. We… we moved there before we had the technology.”

“How did your ancestors survive?!”

“Well… you did mention we had some nifty strategies and techniques… but a lot of us did kinda die.”

“I see why the Galactars stay far away from your kind.”

[arcticfoxbear]

“Humans are Weird: We Took a Vote”

Book 2

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/humans-are-weird-we-took-a-vote-more-absurdity/x/20737048#/

Continua a leggere

[prideknights]

To all acespec knights, this week belongs to you! I want you to know that you deserve to take space, to be recognized, and you deserve to be seen. This week is the ideal time to remember that asexuality is a valid and wonderful part of our world - shout it loud and clear! And, above all, stay proud ⚔️💪

[steppingonshatteredglass-deacti]

ace pride!

so as you may or may not know i made a post showing off pan flags irl a couple days ago.

its gotten a lot of support and i’ve literally read all the tags

i’ve had people i dont even know me thank me and its the best feeling ever

but i did notice that there are a lot of ace pan’s who wished they had some ace rep

so here we have this post!

not just for pan’s also, but for every ace, aro/ace who felt broken.

i love you. literally i swear i do.

please share it because it really does mean the world to some people.

pan!

[dicaeopolis]

aromanticism

means you experience romantic attraction towards others either conditionally or not at all

includes on its spectrum demiromanticism, lithromanticism, grey-aromanticism, etc

can fluctuate, including being induced by trauma

can really frickin’ suck because of the hyperromantic nature of the media and our society and how alone and broken that can make you feel

can really frickin’ suck because of the perpetual crushing knowledge that your friendship will never be as important to someone as their romantic relationship

can really frickin’ suck because of the constant worry that you’re going to hurt someone by not being able to even hope to return their romantic feelings for you

aromanticism is not

something quirky that teenagers made up for attention or because they’re “late bloomers”

something that someone can control at will

coldness or a lack of capacity or desire for deep or “real” feelings

asexuality

[dankmemeuniversity]

[xelayxes]

[xelayxes]

@matzahball

[dracophile]

For a second I didn’t realize it meant “high” as in a stoner--I thought “High Geologist” was like a rank of geologist or something and he was insulted you would challenge him to naming stones

[hamptercatapult]

great poast every one👍

[shirecorn]

I have drawn him.... The High Geologist

[syberfire117]

Can’t believe he’s ace

[shirecorn]

He is now And here’s the photo evidence:

[aphorisnt]

hey guys...https://twitter.com/MatthewLillard/status/1322648148364324864 so does this make it canon?

[shirecorn]

the high geologist has ascended

[ethanrayne]

every time i see this post it gets.... better? but also weirder.

[leoriowithaknife]

don’t make me tap the sign…

[rooooooootle-deactivated2021061]

[Open ID:

Image of the “The Simpsons” meme where the bus driver taps the sign. The bus driver is taping the bottom left of the sign in the both images. The first one reads “Asexuality and aromanticism are inherently queer experiences. Even if an ace person is heteromantic or an aro person is heterosexual, they are still queer by the virtue of their aspec experience.”

The next image says, “Our heteronormative society is both allonormative and amatonormative and, therein, expects all people to experience sexual and romantic attraction exclusively to someone of the ‘opposite’ gender by default. Asexuality and aromanticism undoubtedly queer those rigid standards.”

End Id.]

[rxvns-archive-deactivated202107]

to all my fellow ace specs, you are valid and loved

to all my fellow aro specs, you are valid and loved.

happy ace week!!

[legsdemandias]

no one writes love stories better than aromantics send 

[careful-knives]

The amount of care and detail aroaces put into writing steamy romances is unreal.

[legsdemandias]

The thing is we can’t rely on “love at first sight” or “it just is” logic because we don’t have that button, so instead we build relationships up and up and up, realistically, the only way we could imagine love happening 

[holybikinisbatman]

us 👏 aro 👏 aces 👏 make 👏 it 👏 happen 👏

[sailsofsalt]

Aroaces writing romance:

[mikkeneko]

listen asexuals have written some of THE kinkiest hot shit and i can testify that that is because they do not find the mechanics of sex interesting in and of itself, so they look at the scene and say “how can I make this spicy”

[crazy-pages]

Same reason queer romance stories are so often better than straight ones. When the standard literary shortcuts don’t work all that’s left is to knuckle down and actually put in the work.

[hazeldomain]

Regular romance novels: the second I saw them I was overcome with lust.

Ace writers, taking notes: okay yeah but why.

[angelofthequeers]

Yeah I’m ace and used to write smut and let me tell you, the care and precision that goes into every damn word because I don’t know what tf allos feel irl

[apolloendymion]

tbh it doesn't rly hurt teenagers to incorrectly id as ace like... what's the worst than could happen? they don't have sex till they're older?? lol

[apolloendymion]

"ohh but it'll take them longer to realize they're actually gay" i know my experiences aren't universal but like. if i wasn't ready to face my lesbianism then i was Not Ready, you could've eliminated every other label in existence and i still wouldn't have accepted it. if anything, the ability to try out different labels helped me learn about myself, explore the community, and accept that maybe not being straight wasn't so bad.

[apolloendymion]

also lots of people identify as bi before realizing they are gay, lots of people identify as gay before realizing they're bi, lots of people identify as gay before realizing they're trans, etc etc etc!!! exploring and getting it wrong is a necessary part of the process!!! why is it so different for aroace identities?????

[dappyhappy]

JUST LET ME BE.

[the-little-ladybug-that-could]

Reblog if you are an asexual positive blog, believe asexuals exist, and are willing and able to create a safe space for your asexual friends

[lunaisace]

As an Asexual myself, YES

[celticwarriormoon]

As someone who is now 99% sure they might be ace…

YES. THIS. BOTH SIDES NEED TO SEE THIS.

[froggyfloats]

As an asexual, I deal with this a lot, and it’s not okay :/

[daisy-bugs]

As an asexual, REBLOG YOU COWARDS

[texas-chainsaw-yassacre]

ASEXUALS ARE REAL AND 1000% VALID AND FUCK EVERYBODY ELSE WHO THINKS THEY AREN’T

[chaotic-bastard-demon]

MY BEST FRIEND IS ACE, SHE DEALS WITH THIS SHIT A LOT AND IT’S NOT OK!

[dragonwolfcrane]

Be happy!! There are people who support you too!!!!

[stars-and-rose]

!!!!

[thecatprince]

As someone on the ace/aro spectrum aces are 100% valid. Anyone who thinks otherwise can fuck off.

[tarantula-veins-deactivated2023]

Another one is doctors and therapists telling you you need psychosexual therapy to “cure” your lack of sexual attraction.

If you have ever experienced this, no, you dont need curing.

[aroace-get-out-of-my-face]

Yyyyyyyeeeeeesssss

[totallysilvergirl]

Should go without saying.

[official-lucifers-child]

i am definitely everyone in that second comic

aces are valid, aces are real, aces are NOT broken, aces are amazing and always welcome and safe on my blog

[starryeyed-oddity]

[aquariusrunes]

Ace people are valid, and while I may not be asexual I love and support everyone who is!