Include Arospecs in pride posts challenge

Feel free to add image descriptions since I often don't have the spoons to write them

[aro-punkwave]

Welcome to the blog!

Read the carrd to know more and the DNI, thank you!

(Link)

[blast-detective]

happy last day of aro week, i made a alloaro n aromantic bracelet i would like to show off

[thebirchtreesmightbewatchingme]

Some more cake slices

Abro | Aceflux | Aroflux

Aroace| Demiaroace | Greyaroace

[aspendrawaw]

A late bloomer? No no, I’ve already bloomed. I’m just a different plant then what your expecting

A little 4 leaf aroace clover :]

[purplespaceacedraws]

[short image ID; nine cute drawings of manta rays, all identical except for the colors, which are colorpicked from pride flags. The flags are loveless aromantic, lovequeer, aromantic allosexual, sapphic, polysexual, aromantic spectrum, angled aromantic asexual, demiboy, and cupio. End short image ID]

flags from left to right;

Loveless Aro | Lovequeer | Aroallo

Sapphic | Polysexual | Arospec

Angled Aroace | Demiboy | 4-Color Cupio

long image ID under the cut!

[long image ID; nine cute drawings of manta rays, all identical except for the colors, which are colorpicked from pride flags. The first manta ray is colorpicked from the loveless aromantic flag. The body is dark gray, the underside is gray, and the back is light gray with a dark green stripe, and the tail is pale green. The second manta ray is colorpicked from the lovequeer flag. The body is pink, the underside is golden, the back is yellow and gray, and the tail is light gray. The third manta ray is colorpicked from the aromantic allosexual flag. The body is green, the underside is light green, the back is white, there is a yellow L-shaped mark above each eye, and the tail is dark gold. The fourth manta ray is colorpicked from the sapphic flag. The body is pink, the tail is pale pink, there is a thick pale pink stripe down its back, and an enlarged sapphic flower symbol on its back. The symbol is five purple petals surrounding a yellow dot with a pink outline. The fifth manta ray is colorpicked from the polysexual flag. The body is pink, the tail is blue, and the back has green spots. The sixth manta ray is colorpicked from the aromantic spectrum flag. The body is green, the underside and tail are light green, the back has a large cream spotted stripe and dark green spots with a slightly lighter outline. The seventh manta ray is colorpicked from the angled aromantic asexual flag. The body is gold, the underside is yellow, the tail is a slightly lighter yellow, it has three pale dust colored stripes on its back, and brown spots. The eighth manta ray is colorpicked from the demiboy flag. The body is gray, the underside is light gray, the tail is white, and it has a light blue triangle on its back. The last manta ray is colorpicked from the 4-color cupio flag. The body is light gray, the underside is white, the tail is pale pink, and there is a pale purple crescent/L-shaped mark on its forehead and triangles between the body and fins. End long Image ID].

[my-t4t-romance]

some aro blinkies for pride month!

[image description: seven aromantic pride flag blinkies, each of which says "I love being aro" in all caps in various fonts. end image description]

[ceo-of-the-pluto-defense-squad]

fun things to do during pride month!!

include aroallo people

include aroallo people

include aroallo people

include aroallo people

include aroallo people

include aroallo people

include aroallo people

include aroallo people

include aroallo people

include aroallo people

include aroallo people

include aroallo people

include aroallo people

inclu-

[acrowmantic]

[thefrogginbullfish]

"Loveless"

[auggator]

What is <2? I've had a few asks about it, but I thought I'd make a proper post for it.

I often use "<2" in my posts, whether it's tags or in my own posts or on comments or,,,,,, anywhere. Most simply, it's a heart. I usually describe it as a loveless heart or an aro heart. I had started using it because I felt, as a loveless being, that <3 was too close to love. I was already in a discord server where people used <#, but I felt that didn't fit my expression as well. I played around with some different types, and liked <2, so I started using it a lot. I used it enough that a lot of aro discord servers I'm in picked up on it and use it regularly, which has recently been bleeding into a few tumblrs using it as well.

Who can use <2? Even though <2 grew out of my loveless expression, I want to make clear that this isn't a gatekept thing. Anyone can use it for any reason. If you like it, use it.

<2 looks like [x] While it's not meant to look like anything other than a strange (/pos) heart, I enjoy hearing people talk about what kinds of things it looks like, so share them with me if you want, I've already had a few notes doing so

What about [y] instead of 2? If you want to use hearts with different numbers or symbols, go for it! Aspec (and more specifically arospec) expression of love or care or joy in different ways is really cool, and I encourage you to find some way to do it that fits you.

So is <3 not inclusive? No. Just because I use <2 or stranger looking hearts doesn't mean I think <3 isn't inclusive of lovelessness or arospec identity. This was something I did for my comfort and expression that's spreading. If anything, I still think using traditional hearts or <3 is a radical thing to do as an aspec or loveless being.

In conclusion: <2 is just a way I've been expressing my lovelessness and aro identity that has spread farther than I thought it would. Anyone can use it, and I encourage people to find other ways to express aspec or loveless identity in simple ways. It's not meant to be a commentary or "more inclusive" than <3 and using traditional hearts is still awesome and even radical.

[aro-comics]

Maybe More People Are Arospec (Part 3)

Maybe More People Are Arospec, 3/3 - The Alloaro Edition, in which we cover some alloaro specific (negative) tropes that I personally believe is the reason why there are so few people who identify as alloaro 🙃

I both have everything and nothing to say on this one, because the topic at hand hits home harder than I want to admit 😔. I think it's important to acknowledge the harm that constantly enforcing these ideas about sex without romance as being inherently emotionally drainining, a sign of emotional immaturity, or predatory, etc. probably damages the self-perception and self-worth of most alloaros greatly. Of course,:I understand that NOT ALL highlighted are inherently related to being alloaro - but the way these ideas are framed, especially in the split panel, imply sex without romance is the root of the problem, which in reality it is not. A lack of communication, respect for other's boundaries, or being flat out a predator is the actual issue here.

Anyway, I do understand the intersection of different issues that lead to the ideas that I referenced in the comic (elaborated more in the comments). I suppose the solution, as usual, is more education and more nuance surrounding the discussion 😅😉

I'm so glad to finally have this last part of the series up! I hope you enjoyed the ride, and for sure let me know if there's anything else that I haven't covered here you think also keeps people from realizing that they're aromantic 💚💚💚

[Image Description:

Slide 1: Celia sits on a green armchair in a living room. "Actually, let's make this take even more spicy - maybe a lot more people are alloaro in particular."

Slide 2: She looks down. "Alloaros are more likely to be labelled as heartless, or feel that on top of being 'broken' there's something predatory about themselves -"

Slide 3: "There's this idea that people who only want sex, and not romance, are the kind of people you want to avoid. Who don't care who they hurt. You know the trope - "

Slide 4: An illustrated example of the stereotypical trope. Shown is a house party where two characters are interacting. A taller man leans over a clearly intimidated woman:

"Hey Babe, you alone here tonight?" "Umm …" "Come on, don't be so cold, why don't you loosen up a little?" "No, uh-"

An arrow points to the man that says ""the predatory-college-fuckboy-frat-bro-trope"

Slide 5: Another series of examples, this time illustrated from Celia's childhood. The panel is split into three as you progress through the years. In each section Celia watches a television show.

1: "You can't trust him, ALL he does is sleep around - he's never settled down" 2: "Sorry I'm only looking for something casual right now …" "You're scared of commitment" "No, I-" "You're just using me!" 3: "At least it happened with someone who's loved her and been dating her forever", this is in reference to a teenaged character having sex the first time.

In this last section celia says, forlorn, "There's something wrong with ME, isn't there?"

Slide 6: Celia speaks to viewer directly. "I sure as hell didn't want to admit I was Aro because I knew I wasn't Ace."

Slide 7: "So yeah, those are my thoughts. I've told my allo friends about my theories and they …"

Slide 8: "… didn't exactly believe me." Celia is shown video chatting with her friend, saying "So those are my theories as to why romantic attraction is probably less common than we think, and why there's probably way more Aro people! People are probably too embarassed to admit it because stigma or never even realized it!"

Friend awkwardly says "I … I'm sorry I gotta say I don't agree …"

Slide 9: Celia holds her finger up to her chin, pondering. "Maybe it's just an Aro thing."]

[sheep-sorbet]

hey i had an idea for pride

i think it’s fun to reclaim the way people treat aspecs as villains for just being ourselves. yeah sure, i Am evil and heartless, deal

this will be available on my redbubble as stickers and tshirts soon, so if you wanna support this small broke queer while i emergency-move and try to pay my dog’s vet bills, that’d be awesome <3

[sheep-sorbet]

these are available now 💚💜

[genderkoolaid]

alloaro minors are actually extremely valid & being alloaro isn't an "adult" identity. support alloaro minors esp when they are queer and have to deal with the pressure of both realizing you are queer and realizing you are aromantic

[genderkoolaid]

if you are a minor who thinks they might be alloaro: it's okay. it's okay to feel scared or upset that you might be aro. it's not a curse, it doesn't mean you'll never be happy or that you'll always be lonely. sexual attraction isn't dirty. you don't need romantic attraction to make your sexuality "pure". wanting a sexual relationship without romance isn't a bad thing, and you deserve a fulfilling relationship if you want one. you aren't a predator. your attraction isn't predatory. being alloaro can be wonderful and i promise that even if you do now, you won't always view it as a shameful thing.

[yardsards]

alloros already have such a hard time understanding aromantic people. but when it comes to nonamorous/non-partering aros, their heads fuckin explode

you'll say like "the idea of soulmates excludes people like me"

and they'll say "it's okay! your soulmate can be queerplatonic" (y'know, if they're at least semi accepting of aros and our relationships; a lot of them don't even get to this point)

and you'll say "no, i don't want a partner like that either. i don't want any kind of partner" and they just fuckin bluescreen. or look at you with pity (if they weren't *already* lookin at you with pity for being aro)

and hell! that kind of thing is insulting to aros in qprs too! because it treats a queerplatonic relationship as a REPLACEMENT for a romantic relationship— just tries to shove it into the alleged "void" that they think we have that romance "should" fill otherwise. treats em like off-brand substitutes instead of their own special and unique type of thing

[auggator]

Happy Aplatonic Day of Visibility to:

aromantic aplatonics asexual aplatonics aroallo aplatonics alloace aplatonics alloallo aplatonics aplatonics who feel other tertiary/non-rose attractions aplatonics who don't feel other tertiary/non-rose attractions

grey-platonics demi-platonics fray-platonics lith-platonics cupio-platonics aego-platonics platonic-flux quoi-platonics those anywhere on the aplatonic spectrum

heartless aplatonics loveless aplatonics lovequeer aplatonics lovepunk aplatonics arolovic aplatonics loveflux aplatonics platonic favorable aplatonics platonic neutral aplatonics platonic repulsed aplatonics

any and all aplatonics are valid and deserve respect <2

[neopronouns]

loveless aroallo/alloaro: being both allosexual and a loveless aro(mantic)

based on the loveless aro flag and the alloaro flag! you can read up on the definition of loveless aromanticism here.

dni transcript here

[arospecjamie]

hi aros today i am reminding you to drink some water and get a snack because you deserve to be taken care of